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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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Chapi-hir.. Copyright No.. 
Shell. J-2S / 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 






School Management 



INCLUDING 



A GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORK OF EDUCATION, WITH 
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES 
FROM THE TEACHER'S POINT OF VIEW : ORGANIZ- 
ATION : discipline: and moral training 



/ 



JOSEPH LANDON 

' on School Management, etc., in the Training College, 




FEB 

j^r of Cjg^^ 

SYRACUSE, N. Y. 

C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLI^Eft^CQPY, 

' l8 97 1898. 

Copyright, 1897, by C. W. Bardeen 



\ v«t»*>^» 






4325 




PREFACE. 



It is hoped that the present volume will prove use- 
ful to students of the subject upon which it treats, 
more particularly to those in their second year of 
residence in training colleges, and to such of the 
general body of teachers as wish to have at hand, in 
a compact form, something beyond the bare outlines 
so often presented. 

An attempt has been made in the first part to 
give such a sketch of the Intellectual Faculties, and 
of the bearing of the facts of Mental Science upon the 
work of the teacher — especially his general methods 
— as will serve for a foundation on which the succeed- 
ing portions of the work may be built. Of the three 
great divisions of the teacher's work — Organization, 
Discipline, and Teaching — the first two are more 
particularly dealt with in this book. While, however, 
the systematic and detailed treatment of the scientific 
laws by which Teaching should be governed, together 
with the complete description of methods and special 
devices, is left for a future volume, the elucidation of 
a great number of points respecting this department 
of the work will also be found scattered through the 
present treatise. 1 

1 See under 'Teaching' in Index. 



iv Preface. 

Invention or novelty has not been my aim. Still, 
I trust it will be found that some portions of the 
work are new, and that, though I have not scrupled 
to make use of any facts of value within my reach, 
these have not been adopted without careful examina- 
tion, and their points of connection with the general 
subject realized. I have done my best also, wherever 
I have borrowed any one's peculiar property or the 
special form of an idea, to acknowledge my indebted- 
ness. That I have succeeded in doing this in all cases 
I dare not hope. 

Throughout I have tried to give such information 
upon the various subjects treated as to the teacher is 
worth knowing, and, where possible, to bring each 
important point to the test of experience. This has 
led me to dissent strongly in several places from very 
commonly accepted opinions. My object in such 
cases is rather to lead to further observation and ex- 
periment than to lay stress upon my own views. 

In conclusion I have to express my sincerest 
thanks to the Rev. F. W. Burbidge, M. A., for his 
kindness and help in so carefully reading through 
the proof-sheets, and to several other friends for a 
similar favor, or for suggestions during the progress 
of the work. 

J. L. 

Saltley : November 27, 1882. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

A GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORK OF EDUCATION, 
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE INTELLECTUAL 
FACULTIES. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE MEANING AND SCOPE OF EDUCATION. 

PAGB 

Knowledge of the work of education important to parents and 

teachers i 

Foundation facts to be sought in the sciences which deal with the 

mind and the body 2 

Development of the faculties depends upon their proper and 

regular use . 3 

Broadly viewed, education includes two kinds of influences . 4 

Specific education has two essential functions — 

(a) The strengthening and extension of the human powers — 

humanistic or disciplinary view ..... 5 

(b) The preparation of the individual for the active work of 

life — realistic or utilitarian view .... 6 

What education includes — variations of meaning ... 9 

Great importance of education during the early period of life . 10 
Education is not responsible for all differences of character . 1 1 
Importance of a realization of the meaning and scope of education i2 



VI 



Contents. 



CHAPTER II. 

THREE LINES OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 

PAGS 

Threefold division of the work — relations and interdependence 

of the several parts 14 

(a) The Education of the Body 15 

Professor Bain's opinion respecting this . . . 15 
To what extent the teacher is concerned with physical 

education 16 

(b) The Education of the Intellect . . . . . . 17 

Mind properly not a mass of separate faculties . . 17 

Convenience of treatment under faculties . . . 17 
The three fundamental properties of mental action . ' 18 

Approximate order of the development of the faculties. 19 

(c) The Education of the Emotional Hatnre and the Will . 20 

The necessity for moral strength and power of will . 20 

Need of religious training 20 

Considerations in training to right action ... 21 

The discipline of consequences 22 

Motives and reason both to be used .... 23 



CHAPTER III. 



SOME LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM A BRIEF CONSIDERATION 



OF SENSATION, PERCEPTION, CONCEPTION, AND ATTENTION. 

(a) Sensation, Perception, and Conception .... 24 

The senses and their organs 24 

The mechanism of transmission of nerve force . . 25 
How an impression becomes a sensation and finally a 

perception 25 

The formation of simple ideas 26 

The processes of simple generalization and abstraction 27 

The complex nature of conception .... 27 

Language is useless without the underlying ideas . 28 

Necessity for the education of the senses ... 29 

Qualities of perception which should be fostered . 29 

The place of ' object lessons ' and similar exercises . 30 



Contents. vii 

PAGE 

(b) Attention 31 

Attention a co-ordinating and controlling force — the 
means of focussing the mind, as it were, upon an 

object 31 

Its necessity and importance with reference to the other 

faculties 31 

Rest afforded by change of object .... 32 
Qualities of attention: (1) vivacity (2) intensity (3) con- 
tinuity 32 

Attention controlled in two ways — from within or from 

without 33 

Means of engaging the attention of children . . 33 

The relation of punishment to attention ... 34 

Influence of physical surroundings .... 35 

Evils of hurried work 35 



CHAPTER IV. 

MEMORY IN EDUCATION. 

What is meant by memory 36 

Variations in its action 37 

(a) Apprehension . 39 

Upon what correct apprehension depends ... 39 

Memorizing a form of words. Position of cram . 40 

Points to be borne in mind in presenting facts to the 
memory : 

1. Discrimination between important and unim- 
portant facts 41 

2. Judicious selection . . . . . . 42 

3. Classification and arrangement ... 42 

4. Principles and laws 43 

5. Logical sequence of ideas . . . . 44' 

6. Sufficient time to obtain clearness . . 45 

7. The cultivation of habits of observation, in- 
quiry, comparison, &c 45 

{b) Eetention 46 

The retaining or recording power. Differences of en- 
dowment 46 

The holding power of the memory probably at a maxi- 
mum about the age of ten. Practical conclusions . 47 
The probable conservation of mental force . . 48 



VI 11 



Contents. 



Conditions tending to depth of impression and so to power 
ofretentio?i : 

i. Original force of the idea 

Attention. Action of sympathy 
Interest. Curiosity in children 
Repetition — how made use of 
Force of attendant emotion 
6. State of the health, &c. . 

{c) Eeproduction 

Conditions affecting the reproduction of ideas 

I. Association of Ideas, &*c. 
The tendency of ideas, &c, to link themselves to- 
gether 

Mode of action of association 

The two fundamental laws of association : (i) law of 

contiguity; (2) law of similarity 
Branch laws of association. Facts suggest one 

another by the action of association when they are 

united in the mind by : 

1. Immediate succession or juxtaposition in 
time 

2. Immediate succession or co-adjacency in 
space . . . 

(a) Useful aids to this 

(b) Mnemonic systems 

(c) Faculty of localization 

3. Cause and effect. Means and end 

4. Contrast ..... 

5. Direct similarity or analogy 

{a) Affords foundation for inductive and 

deductive reasoning 
[b) Great value in teaching 

6. Natural affinity .... 

7. Logical affinity or dependence . 

II. Practice in Reproduction 
How automatic or organic memory arises 
Value of review courses .... 
Importance of reproduction in studies 

Practical helps 

The province and value of examinations 



5o 
5i 

52 
54 
56 
57 
59 
59 
60 

60 
61 

64 



64 

66 

67 

6 7 
68 
69 
70 
7i 

72 

73 
73 
75 
75 
75 
76 
7 6 
78 
79 



Contents. ix 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION, JUDGMENT, 
AND REASON. 

PAGB 

(a) Imagination 80 

Definition. How distinct from fancy . .. . . 81 
Mode in which the imagination may be made to serve 

the purposes of culture. Dangers to be avoided . 81 

Difference between memory and imagination . . 82 

Imagination of two kinds : (1) reproductive ; (2) creative S3 

Methods in which the imagination may be cultivated 84 

Influence of books. School libraries ... 85. 

Pictures and the ' picturing out ' method in teaching 86 

(d) Jndgment .88 

What is meant by judgment, How it differs from reason 88 

The products of judgment 89 

Necessity for attending in teaching to both words and 

ideas ......... go 

How words should be explained to children . . 90 

' Common sense ' and its value 91 

How ' habits of thought ' are formed. Prejudices . 92 

The importance of early training in judgment . 92 

First steps in training the judgment .... 93 

Two processes in judgment — comparison and decision 94 

Mode of making use of ' lessons of comparison ' . 95 

Comparison of conceptions. Classification . . 96 

The child must be led to judge for himself . . 97 

Dangers to be avoided in training the judgment . 97 

(c) Seasoning Processes 98 

Reasoning inductively and deductively ... 98 
The process of induction and the names given to its 

results 99 

Points to which attention must be paid in induction . 99 
Induction a more complete process than simple gene- 
ralization 100 

The process of deduction 100 

Deductive reasoning traces causes into effects, but tells 

us nothing of the causes . . . . . . 10a 

The syllogism 101 

Considerations in teaching children to reason . . 101 



Contents. 

PAGB 

Inductive training must be based on exact and ready 

observation. Value of experimental lessons . . 103 

How many arithmetical rules are best taught . . 103 

The teaching of the ' parts of speech ' in grammar . 103 

Deductive training for children 104 

The question ' Why ? ' Its use and abuse . . 105 
Deductive exercises in grammar . . . .106 

The teaching of Euclid to children .... 107 
Defects and errors in reasoning. Cautions to the 

teacher 107 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SCHOOL WORK OF THE TEACHER. 

(a) Organization 109 

Definition of organization, and what it includes . . 109 

Organization must not be confused with education . in 

(o) Discipline iii 

Discipline gives the law to the school, and concerns 

itself mainly with conduct . . . . . 112 

Points needing attention in discipline . . . 112 

The child must be gradually led to self-control . . 112 

{c) Teaching 112 

Teaching includes the consideration of (1) the person 

taught ; (2) the materials for teaching ; (3) the methods 

to be used 113 

I3ook knowledge cannot compensate for the want of 

careful daily observation of the pupils . . . 113 
The subjects of instruction. Necessity of adequate 

knowledge on the part of the teacher . . . 113 

The teacher should never give up his private reading 114 
Knowledge of the methods of teaching . . .114 

Distinction between teaching and education . . 115 

The difficulty of teaching well 116 



Contents. 



XI 



PART II. 

ORGANIZATION. 



CHAPTER I. 



SYSTEMS OF ORGANIZATION. 



both 



(a) The Individual System 

Historical notes respecting the individual plan 

Characteristic features of the system . 

Its advantages 

Its defects 

{b) The Mutual or Monitorial System 

Short history of the origin and progress of the plan 
at home and abroad 

Names given to the system and its varieties 

Sketch of the life of Dr. Andrew Bell 

Sketch of the life of Joseph Lancaster 

Characteristic features of the system, with a comparison 
of schemes of Bell and Lancaster 

The advantages of the plan 

Its defects and shortcomings 

(c) CollectiTe Systems 
i. The Training System . 

Origin and spread of the plan 

Sketch of the life of David Stow 

Leading features of the plan as developed by Stow 

The advantages of the scheme 

Its defects 

2. The Simultaneous or Class-room System 

The establishment of the system on the Continent 

Its principal characteristics 

The advantages and defects of the plan 

Dr. Rigg's opinion of the system 

(d) Mixed Systems 

I. The Tripartite System 

Proposed by Rev. H. Moseley in 1845 

Leading features and mode of working the scheme 

The advantages of the plan 

Its defects .... 



xii Contents. 

2. The Pupil-teacher or English System .... 
An outgrowth of the monitorial plan. Suggested about 

1844 

Established as a system by the Minutes of 1846 
Changes in the proportion of pupil-teachers to be em- 
ployed 

Some mistakes in working the plan .... 



PAGB 

162 

162 
162 

163 

164 



&c. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SCHOOL AND ITS APPOINTMENTS. 

(a) The Shape, Size, and Disposition of the Rooms 

Superficial and cubical content limits per child 

The site of the school 

Shape and general arrangement . 

Class-rooms and their disposition 

Walls and flooring 

The lobby, or cloak-room, and its fittings . 

The teacher's private room . . .. . . 

The playground. Its value, position, laying, 
gymnastic apparatus ; covered sheds 

The closets and the drains .... 
(0) The Mode of Lighting . . •..';,• 

Kind and position of windows 

Dr. Liebreich's opinion as to the most suitable 

Importance of proper lighting 
(c) Wanning and Ventilation .... 

Injurious effects of school life upon children and teach 
ers largely due to unwholesome conditions of work 

Temperature best for work in school 

Prof. Huxley on changes of the air in a room due to 
respiration 

Quantity of fresh air to be provided per child 

Methods of warming by radiation 

Open fire-grates. The Boyd, Manchester, Longden, &c 

Common stoves and their defects 

Gill stoves. Prevention of undue drying of the air 

Hot-water-pipes. Use and disadvantages . 

Convection apparatus. Danger from overheating 

Ventilation and draughts 

Doors and windows as ventilators 



light 



166 
166 
167 
167 
168 
169 
170 
171 

171 

172 
174 
174 
r 75 
176 
176 

177 
177 

178 
178 
179 
180 
180 
181 
181 
181 
183 
183 



Contents. 



Xlll 



PAGE 

Cowl ventilators. Sylvester's plan .... 1S4 

Arnot's balance valve 184 

Ordinary gratings and valves 184 

Vertical shaft ventilators. Tobin's tubes. M'Kinnell's 

double cylinder ventilator 185 

Louvre ventilators 186 

(d) Fittings and Fnrnitnre 186 

General arrangement 187 

Galleries. Characteristics and kinds . . . .187 

Desks. Infant school desks. Desks for older children 189 

Slope of desks. Measurements. Seats, &c. . . 191 

Ink-wells 192 

Short-length system of arranging desks . . .192 

Long-length system of arrangement .... 193 

Teacher's desks, &c 194 

Cupboards, &c 195 

Curtains 196 

Hammocks or cots, &c. ...... 197 



CHAPTER III. 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE CHILDREN. 



Difficulties of classification 

4 Manifold, ' ' twofold, ' and 'single ' systems of classification 
American and German plans .... 

Definitions of ' class ' 

* Sections' and 'drafts ' 

1 Grades, ' and how they differ from classes 
Practical considerations respecting classification . 

1 . The extent of the boys' attainments 

2. The size of the school .... 

3. The last standard passed 

4. The number and quality of the teachers 

5. The subjects to be taught 

6. Cases where age should have weight 

7. Readjustment and promotion 
Question much discussed in America 



Mixed schools. 

view ..... 

Objections urged against mixed schools 
Advantages claimed for the arrangement 
The question mainly one of good or bad government 



English 



195 
200 
201 
202 
202 
203 
203 
203 
204 
204 
205 
205 
205 
206 

208 
209 
210 
210 



xiv Contents. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE QUALIFICATIONS, DUTIES, AND DISTRIBUTION OP 
THE TEACHERS. 

PAGE 

The pleasure and usefulness of the teacher's work depends largely 

upon the spirit in which it is carried on . . . .211 

Qualifications of the teacher 212 

His methods both of management and teaching should be pro- 
gressive 213, 

Value of a reading habit to the teacher 214 

Teaching a difficult art if perfection is aimed at . . .214 

{a) The Staffing of Schools 215 

Teachers recognized by the Department . . . 215. 

Department requirements as to school staff . . 215, 
What constitutes an efficient staff . . . .216 
Opinion of Prof. Huxley's Committee, 187 1, as to school 

staff 216 

Changes in the Code requirements since 1859 . . 217 

{b) The Master 217 

The chief school duties of the master . . . 217 

Adjustment of superintendence and teaching . . 218 

Dealing with parents 219 

Should not be hampered with minor regulations framed 

by others 220 

{c) Adult Assistants " . . . 220 

Each should be responsible for a certain group of chil- 
dren 220- 

Working of assistant and pupil-teacher together . 220> 

The placing of the assistants 221 

Relation of assistant to the master . . . .221 

Supervision of the work of assistants .... 222 

(d) Pupil-Teachers . .222' 

Should be placed according to ability and experience 222 

Evils of overworking young teachers .... 222- 

The training of pupil-teachers ..... 223. 

Selection of candidates 223, 

Home studies of the pupil-teacher. Examination tests 224 
The ' centre system ' of teaching pupil-teachers . . 224 
Suggestions on the TEACHING OF THE VARIOUS SUB- 
JECTS of school work, and on class management. 225. 



Contents. xv 

PAGE 

Monitors ' 230 

How far officially recognized 230 

Conditions to be borne in mind in their use . . 230 

The employment of 'paid monitors' in small schools . 230 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ARRANGEMENT OF TIME AND SUBJECTS — TIME-TABLES. 

Importance and value of time-tables .... 

(a) General Considerations 

The subjects to be taught 

The internal circumstances of the school 

The sex of the scholars. Mode of attendance, &c. 

The length and succession of the lessons 

Distribution of the noisy lessons 

Provision for change of posture and of place 

Play, marking of registers, home lessons, &c. 

(b) Method of Proceeding to Draw up a Time-Table 

Distribution of the time into separate lesson portions 

General arrangement 

Specimen of time-table 

The use of ' ill-adjusted time-tables ' 
Alterations of work on going to a fresh school . 
Teacher should draw up a ' syllabus of study ' for each 
class 

(c) Government Kegnlations respecting Time-Tables 

Requirements of the Education Act, 1870 . 
Points selected and condensed from the various ' min- 
utes ' and ' circulars ' respecting time-tables 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE APPARATUS AND BOOKS. 

Apparatus good and bad . . 

Prevention of wear and tear to apparatus 

(a) Kinds of Apparatus .... 

Kinds, qualities, and uses of black-boards 
Maps, diagrams, and pictures 
Models, specimens, &c. 



xvi Contents. 

Form, color, and kindergarten apparatus 
Apparatus for teaching arithmetic 
Apparatus for teaching reading . 

(b) Books 

The General Readers 

i. General qualities and uses 

2. Books for the earliest or conceptive stage 

3. Books for the middle or interest stage 

4. Books for the upper or information stage 
The Special Readers 

Qualities of books for teaching geography, his 

tory, &c 

Importance of graduation of subject-matter 

Remaining Books 

Class-books for the ordinary subjects 
Varieties of copy-books 
Manuals for the specific subjects 
Reference books .... 



PAGE 
250 
251 

251 
252 
252 
253 
254 
255 

2 S5 

255 
255 
256 
256 
256 
256 
257 



CHAPTER VII. 

REGISTRATION. 

Objects of registration .258 

Registers required 258 

The individual and collective departments of registration . 259 

The Admission Register, and mode of keeping it 260 

The Class Registers. Department requirements as to marking, &c. 261 

Suggestions. Daily summary, &c. . . . . . . 264 

Arrangement of class registers ....... 265 

What is meant by ' attendance ' 265 

The Stcmmary .......... 266 

Averages, and the method of finding ...... 267 

Returns sometimes required . 268 

The checking of the registers by the managers . . . 269 

The Log-book . 269 



Contents. 



xvi 1 



PART III. 
DISCIPLINE AND MORAL TRAINING. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE USE OF THE EMOTIONS IN EDUCATION, AND THEIR 
CULTIVATION. 

Necessity for culture of the moral and emotional elements of the 
child's nature 

What is meant by emotion and by passion 

Tendency of emotional excitement to affect the body 

Emotion and intelligence run side by side 

Desire and aversion. How motives arise 

Necessity for proper direction of the emotions 

Importance of knowing the nature of the child 

Law of emotional action. Evil of violent emotion in the case of 
children 

Influence of the emotions on conduct 

In what way the will may be made to influence the emotions 

Cautions respecting the treatment of children. Nervousness 

The cold philosophical temperament 

Association of pleasure and pain with conduct 

Influence of surroundings on the emotions 

Value of sympathy in dealing with children 

The emotion arising from steady pursuit 

The (Esthetic emotions and the culture of the sense of beauty 

Means of training children to good taste, music, oral lessons, &c 

Necessity for guiding a child's early aesthetic associations 




271 
271 
272 

273 

273 

274 

274 

275 
275 
276 
276 
277 
278 
279 

27.9 
280 

281 
2S2 



CHAPTER II. 

GENERAL MORAL AND RELIGIOUS TRAINING. 

The objects of moral training 283 

The association of right or wrong with actions . . . 283 

Effect of a child's surroundings on his earliest moral notions . 284 

Different natures need different treatment .... afo 



XV111 



Contents. 



Connection of morality, intelligence, and emotion 

Importance of early moral training 

The elements to be made use of in moral training 

The teacher's aim in moral training . 

Too exclusive attention is often given to what shall not be 

Difference between command and influence 

Necessity for going slowly. Lessons of experience 

Evil of investing neutral actions with a moral significance 

The introduction of reasons for right conduct . 

Weakness of a merely argumentative discipline 

Submission and compulsion .... 

The objects of moral instruction .... 

Characteristics and methods of moral instruction 

The mfluence <?/ example and its mode of use 

The imitative tendency in children 

Effect of broken promises, &c 

Penetration of children in finding out character 
Action of sympathy and admiration . 
Tendency in children to repetition, formation of habits 
The work of reformation in the case of bad habits 
The training of the child to responsibility 
Virtues. Classification, &c. . ... 

Training to virtue not abstract, but through personal 
Truthfulness, and how it is to be secured 

Tale-bearing 

■ Copying,' and wanton destruction of property 
Training to acknowledgment of wrong 

Passion in children 

The nature and growth #/" conscience 

Cases of defective action of the conscience 

The cultivation of the conscience ... 

Religions training, and what it includes 

Errors sometimes committed .... 

The kind of religious training suitable for children 

Religious instruction. How given. Practical lessons, &c 



action 



done 



CHAPTER III. 



THE GOVERNMENT OF CHILDREN — SCHOOL TACTICS. 

School discipline, and what it includes 310 

The authority of the teacher, and how it is to be exercised . 310 

What is required to administer discipline well . . . 311 



Contents, 



xix 



The evil of rash judgments .... 

Decision in the teacher 

Children must be governed, not coaxed 

Defects arising from want 0/" uniformity in discipline 

The nature of proper obedience .... 

Commands, and mistakes in connection with them 

Obstinacy. Its varieties and treatment 

Connection of ill-temper with injustice 

Displeasure. Its use and abuse 

Sneering; sarcasm, and ridicule 

The practice of making examples 

Industry and idleness 



312 

312 
313 
3*3 
314 

3*4 

3*5 
3*7 
3*7 
3i3 

3i8 
Necessity of attending to details if discipline rs to be satisfactory 320 



CHAPTER IV. 



MOTIVES AND THE TRAINING OF THE WILL. 

Influence of pleasure and pain upon children . . . .321 

The character of motives 321 

Mode of using motives of the lower kind 322 

The employment of too powerful influences .... 322 
The principal motives to be made use of by the teacher . . 323 
Pleasure arising from active employment — force of habit . 323 
Pleasure arising from simple commendation — praise, approba- 
tion, esteem 324 

Gratification arising from permanent marks of commendation 
in connection with the pleasure of possession — rewards, 

prizes, medals, &c. 325 

Pleasure arising to children from the approval and sympathy of 

their fellows 328 

Emotions of satisfaction from progress, conquest, or successful 

competition — emulation, &c. 329 

The recognition of moral obligation ; pleasure arising from 

right action — sense of duty; sense of worthiness . 331 
The will and its action . . . . . . . .334 

Influence of motives on the will 334 

Mode of disciplining the will 335 

Intensity of emotion must not be mistaken for power of will 336 

Confusion of obstinacy with strength of will . . . 336 
Difference between control of the intellect and moral 

self-control 337 



xx Contents. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE NATURE AND USES OF PUNISHMENT. 



PAGE 
338 

33* 
339 
34i 
342 
343 



Importance and difficulty of a proper use of punishment 
Strong measures necessary when weaker ones have failed 
Characteristics of effective punishments .... 

The child must clearly understand why he is punished 
Punishment does not give voluntary effort to do right 
We should never ' chain children to their dead faults ' 
School punishments are not to be viewed as vengeance of the 

law or as expiation of guilt 343 

Punishment justifiable us a measure- of guidance and reform . . 343 
Action and consequence should be closely associated . ■ 343 
Loss of value in punishments from careless indifferent manner 344 
Too much has been said about the teacher being calm and 

judicial 344 

The value of righteous anger 345 

Kinds of punishment in common use 346 

Smallest amount of punishment must be used which will serve 

our turn 346 

Discussions about punishment proceed too much on merely 

theoretical grounds 346 

Probably every kind of punishment used has been condemned by 

one or another 347 

Compulsory silence and exclusion from companionship . . 347 

Censure and shame 348 

Book tasks — use and abuse 348 

Expulsion an extreme measure 349 

Corporal punishment — should include all punishments which de- 
pend upon pain of body 349 

Theory of the action of bodily pain as a punishment . . 350 

A state needing corporal punishment should be viewed as a 

diseased one 351 

Beyond a certain point corporal punishment should in no case go 351 
Effects of corporal punishment on the disposition . . . 352 

Offences for which this form of punishment is suitable , . 352 

Children must recognize the justice of the punishment if it is to 

produce a good moral effect 353 

Mode of dealing with obdurate children 354 

Severe punishments should be given in private . . . 354 

Temptations to employ the rod too commonly . . . 355 



Contents. xxi 

PAGE 

Conclusions respecting the use of corporal punishment . . 356 

'No corporal punishment* a standard to aim at . . . 356 

Difficulties in the way of the abolition of corporal punishment 357 

The injustice often done to the teacher 357 

Position of corporal punishment in times past . . . 358 

Punishments of a Suabian schoolmaster in the last century . 359 

Progress during the present century. Conclusion . . . 359 



Index 



361 



SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 



PART I. 

A GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORK OF EDUCATION, 
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE INTELLECTUAL 
FACULTIES. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE MEANING AND SCOPE OF EDUCATION. 

*Man cannot propose,' says Plato, 'a higher or holier 
object for his study than education, and all that per- 
tains to education.' The importance of an acquaint- 
ance with the work of education is generally recog- 
nized in our own day, but unfortunately, in many 
cases, we go no further than this recognition. This 
is not as it should be ; the good of our children, the 
well-being of society, the physical, mental, and spirit- 
ual progress of mankind, demand from the educator, 
be he parent or teacher, something deeper than mere 
opinion — a faith which issues in action. The work 
of training and informing the child is necessarily, in 
the great majority of instances, handed over almost 
entirely to the teacher ; and few duties are associated 
with a more weighty responsibility than the work he 

B 



2 The Work of Education. 

has to perform. It is so fatally easy to do mischief, 
and so exceedingly difficult to fully recognize the 
effect — to estimate correctly the impression made 
from present indications — that he who would act 
aright in this matter should give earnest heed to any 
study which promises to render his difficulties less 
perplexing, and his work more sure. He will consider 
with close attention the body, the mind, and the moral 
nature, including in the latter the religious senti- 
ments ; and this will lead him to make himself ac- 
quainted with the fundamental facts of Physiology, 
Psychology, and moral Philosophy, more especially 
with such as bear upon the development of the child 
in either of the directions indicated. Without some 
knowledge of this kind the teacher is endeavoring to 
train faculties, of which he knows little or nothing, by 
methods the laws of which he knows even less ; and 
he can only hope that things will somehow or other 
come out right in the end. 

The subjects just mentioned not only furnish us 
with a large amount of information concerning the 
being to be educated, but they supply us also with 
certain general laws which give a natural foundation 
for our plans, and so guide us materially in carrying 
on our work of development. These principles, tested 
by experience, and extended by observation, form the 
basework of the science of education. ' The laws 
which govern the growth of the human mind,' says 
Professor Henry, ' are as definite and as general in 
their application as those which apply to the material 
universe, and a true system of education must be 
based upon a knowledge and application of these 
laws.' The fundamental principles, then, of education 
are drawn in a large measure from the sciences which 



The Meaning and Scope of Education. 3 

are specially concerned with the mind and the body. 
Such laws interpret for us, and strengthen us in, cer- 
tain lines of conduct found to be successful in actual 
practice. They prevent us, in numerous instances, 
from going astray, they enable us to discern our 
errors, and they give us encouragement by showing 
us when we are working in the right direction. 

Proceeding thus in accordance with the principles 
laid down for us, certain methods of procedure soon 
come to be recognized by educators as leading, to cor- 
rect results by the shortest and least laborious routes. 
A description of these, together with any practical 
rules drawn directly from scientific consideration, or 
suggested by experience, form what is generally 
spoken of as the Art of Education. This is very val- 
uable in its way, but it is rendered far more so when 
the laws upon which it is based receive the attention 
at the hands of the teacher which they deserve ; that 
is, when he makes himself acquainted with the under- 
lying science. 

The word education comes to us from the Latin 
verb edncare, to train, nurture, or bring up a child, 
physically or mentally ; and this again is connected 
etymologicaily with edncere, to lead or draw out. 
Thus w r e see that the root idea of education is the 
leading out, the training or cultivation, of the powers 
or capabilities of action with which man is endowed. 
This development of the faculties depends upon their 
proper, frequent, and regular use ; and thus exercise, 
both physical and mental, becomes a matter of prime 
importance to us — a necessity of our well-being. 
' The intellect,' says Aristotle, * is perfected, not by 
knowledge but by activity.' 

Rightly used the powers expand, strengthen, and 



4 The Work of Education. 

progress towards perfection, but if allowed to remain 
unemployed they lose their elasticity — their power 
both of growth and of ready action — and move only 
in a lethargic and feeble manner when called upon. 
'It is the noble office of education,' writes Marcel, 
'to direct their natural activity, to extend and mul- 
tiply their various energies, as also to indicate the 
means by which they may best perform their work, 
and by which they are made subservient to happi- 
ness.' 

Education, then, in its broadest sense, will include 
all the influences brought to bear upon us which 
modify in any degree the growth of character of our 
powers as human beings. These influences are of 
two kinds : — 

[. Those which affect us by chance, so far as 
man is concerned, the many-sided undirected impulses 
arising from home, companions, books, the world, &c. 
Such influences, both from their number and from 
their frequent opportunities of action, exert a power- 
ful effect upon our development. ' The expressly 
appointed schoolmasters and schoolings we get,' says 
Carlyle, ' are as nothing compared with the unap- 
pointed, incidental, and continual ones, whose school 
hours are all the days and nights of our existence, 
and whose lessons, noticed or unnoticed, stream in 
upon us with every breath we draw.' But powerful as 
is the influence of this fortuitous training, it is nearly 
certain to be, from the circumstances of the case, 
partial and inharmonious and not unfrequently per- 
verted. Hence, in order that it may tend to well- 
being, it must be dominated and interpreted, and its 
effects in many instances corrected or neutralized by 
that specific training which is more especially in the 



The Meaning and Scope of Education. 5 

hands of the teacher, and to which we generally apply 
the term education. 

2. The second class of influences, then, includes 
those which are brought to bear upon us with a defi- 
nite purpose in a pre-arranged, suitable, and method- 
ical manner, by parents, teachers, and ourselves. 
This studied and specific education has two essential 
functions. 

a. The first function is the strengthening and ex- 
tension of the human powers, so that each may act in 
the most perfect manner, and yet work harmoniously 
with the rest. Education in this connection should 
guard the faculties from neglect or mischance, and so 
direct its operations as to lead forth the child into a 
complete man, capable of acting and willing to act in 
any required direction, promptly, powerfully, and 
from right motives. This, which has been called the 
1 humanistic ' or 'disciplinary' view, has for its object, 
then, the acquisition of physical, mental, and moral 
power by the individual. Those branches of study 
which are generally included in polite learning or 
' belles-lettres,' languages, history, &c. — in fact those 
which are supposed to have a specially humanizing 
effect upon man, cultivating particularly those faculties 
which distinguish him as a man in all his human rela- 
tions — are still spoken of as the 'humanities.' Edu- 
cators who have adopted the humanistic view of 
education have usually looked to classical studies as 
the great means of mental training, and hence classical 
culture has generally been regarded as the type, if 
not the essential feature, of humanistic training. 

It was to this disciplinary culture, irrespective of 
the utility for the ordinary purposes of life of the in- 
formation conveyed, that nearly all the celebrated 



6 The Work of Education. 

early educators directed their efforts. The famous 
school of Johann Sturm at Strasburg owes its renown 
to successful training of this kind ; and Ascham and 
others in England, and such men as Luther, Gesner, 
Hermann, and Wolf abroad, all sought to encourage 
and carry out the same idea of education. It is the 
view principally enforced by such writers and thinkers 
as Kant, Stewart, Willm, Marcel, and J. S. Mill. The 
Scotch schools have always been famous for the 
attempt to develop intellectual habits, rather than for 
insistence upon information as an important thing in 
itself, and have sometimes carried this to excess. The 
'Gymnasia' of Germany also direct their attention 
more particularly to culture, rather than to knowledge 
for any intrinsic value of its own. 

In speaking of the Prussian definition of education, 
which insists upon the harmonious and equable evolu- 
tion of the human powers, Professor Bain points out 
that we must not strain the harmoniousness of de- 
velopment unduly, but must make various allowances 
in practice. He says that, although good up to a 
certain point, this view 'does not readily accommodate 
itself to such circumstances as these : — namely, the 
superior aptitude of individuals for some things rather 
than others ; the advantage to society of pre-eminent 
fitness for special functions, although gained by a one- 
sided development ; the difficulty of reconciling the 
" whole man " with himself ; the limit to the power of 
the educator, which imposes the necessity of selection 
according to relative importance.' 

b. The second function of specific education is the 
preparation of the individual for the active work of life, 
the acquisition of knowledge for its own sake, and the 
clear appreciation of personal, social, and political duties. 



The Meaning and Scope of Education. 7 

This is often spoken of as the 'realistic' or 'utilitarian' 
aspect of education, though neither term can be said 
to properly describe it. The exponents of this view 
generally lay great stress upon the teaching of science 
as giving a most useful culture of its own, and as 
providing the pupil with information of much value 
in itself. They aim at educating a boy to become a 
practical man, not specially a scholar ; and they con- 
sequently emphasize instruction, more particularly 
such as affords ample opportunities for the careful 
exercise of the senses. The upholders, however, of 
the practical side of education, while they have many 
important characteristics in common, differ largely 
in the details of their views ; and in many cases are 
not so much opposed to the humanitarians upon the 
general question, as with respect to the particular 
elements of training which are to be considered of 
most importance, and in the methods by which the 
end advocated is to be arrived at. 

Bacon may be looked upon as the founder of the 
realistic view in England, and many Continental edu- 
cators have owed much to his teaching. Comenius 
was distinctly a sense realist, though not prepared to 
limit studies in the way many of the realists have ad- 
vocated. Milton insisted principally upon prepara- 
tion for the actual business of life, and speaks of the 
dragging of the ' choicest and hopefullest wits to that 
asinine feast of sowthistles and brambles, which is 
commonly set before them as all the food and enter- 
tainment of their tenderest and most docile age.' 
Locke was also a strong supporter of the practical 
view of education. Rousseau, too, had much in com- 
mon with the realists ; while Pestalozzi and his fol- 
lowers may all be said, more or less, to belong to 



8 The Work of Education. 

them. The most renowned, as well as the most 
thorough-going advocate of the realistic idea of edu- 
cation in our own days is Mr. Herbert Spencer, who 
maintains that the knowledge which is of most worth 
for its usefulness in daily life is also that which 
affords the most valuable kind of discipline in its 
acquisition. For this reason he would have us con- 
fine ourselves almost entirely to science. 

It is with the carrying out of the utilitarian view 
of education, that the ' Real Schools ' of Germany 
mostly concern themselves. These took their rise in 
the celebrated institutions at Halle, founded by Au- 
gust Hermann Francke; whose system was based 
upon distinctly realistic principles, in opposition to 
the formal one-sided education of the time, which 
concerned itself almost entirely with language. 1 

Whether we look upon the 'training' view or the 
'practical' view of education as the more important, 
neither should be adopted exclusively. All are 
pretty well agreed that the distinction should in no 
case be made in early education, but that the two 
views should be amalgamated, special attention being 
given to the cultivation of the child. The two func- 
tions cannot properly be separated in the actual work, 
even later on, no matter what the subjects taught. It is 
the educator's business to harmonize them, so that, 
while the essentially human training has its proper 
share of attention, all that will fit the pupil for his future 

1 The word ' real '■ in connection with schools was first used, it 
seems, by J. S. Semler, of Halle, in 1706, who speaks of his establish- 
ment as ' a mechanical and mathematical real school.' Hecker, one 
of Francke's early disciples, was the first to found a 'real ' school in 
Berlin in 1747. The Prussian Government has refused to support the 
Real Schools, and throws their maintenance upon the towns where they 
exist. It has, however, since 1871, recognized their efficiency. 



The Meaning and Scope of Education. 9 

work shall not be neglected, wherever it is feasible 
to aid its cultivation. It is only after general educa- 
tion has secured the development of the mind, and 
disciplined it to skilled effort, that professional educa- 
tion, properly speaking, should begin. 

Taking into account both functions of education, 
we may say that, when a person has stored his mind 
with all serviceable materials, and cultivated his. 
faculties to such an extent that he is able to make a. 
vigorous use of the knowledge he possesses ; when his. 
moral power has become so developed and experienced 
that he not only has a delicate appreciation of duty,, 
but his conscience gives its sanction to that which 
his intelligence dictates ; when his will has been 
strengthened to such a degree that he is enabled to 
act with decision, and bear with constancy the strain 
of difficulty and disappointment ; when he recognizes, 
his relationship to a Superior Being, and realizes that 
his every action may have an influence not only for 
time but for eternity ; and lastly, when his mind has 
acquired such keen susceptibility to the beauties both 
of nature and of Art, that it adds to his pleasures and 
softens his cares — then he is educated. 

The word education has been employed in a great 
variety of ways. This diversity arises principally 
from two causes ; either from the more or less com- 
plete limitation of the view to one of the functions 
just given, or from the difference of standpoint. Some 
writers view education as the means or process we 
adopt for securing the objects aimed at; others as 
the result of such expedients, that is, the actual culti- 
vation and acquisition secured. Many writers, again, 
limit the word education to the more distinctly form- 
ative period of early life, partly because this is the 



io The Work of Education. 

period for which the teacher is more particularly re« 
sponsible, and partly because it is of far greater im- 
portance. And while we must not forget the broader 
aspect of education it is with this more limited portion 
of the work that we are here most immediately con- 
cerned. 

In childhood and youth everything wears a fresh 
and interesting aspect, many things are new and 
curious, the world has not yet grown commonplace; 
in a word, the mind is less burdened with past impres- 
sions, and hence is much more powerfully susceptible 
to educational influences. It goes out to meet them, 
as it were, with all its vigor, and, from the vividness 
and interest of the experience, it is more deeply 
affected than in later years. The ideas are thus re- 
tained for a longer period, and recalled with greater 
readiness and intensity at any future time. 

As a streamlet near its source may readily be 
diverted or confined to its bed, while the larger river 
is much less within control, so the mind, during child- 
hood, is easily turned in any required direction, either 
mental or moral, until right action has become habit- 
ual to it. But, if neglected, or allowed to assume 
a wrong bent for any considerable length of time, it 
becomes to a large extent settled, and beyond our 
power to change its course. Hence the importance 
rightly attached to early education, and also to a great 
degree the significance and responsibility of the work 
of the teacher. 

In the early years the parents' influence should, 
among other things, fit the child for the hands of the 
teacher ; and, in the succeeding time, the influence of 
the latter, with that of the parents, should prepare the 
pupil for the enjoyment of that moral and intellectual 



The Meaning and Scope of Education. 1 1 

freedom without license, which should be the outcome 
of such combined cultivation. It must be borne in 
mind, also, that the education provided by the school, 
lasting but a few years at most, cannot carry on the 
work to perfection ; it can only lead the individual 
some distance on the road, and give him the power 
and the disposition to continue the journey himself, 
after the guidance and encouragement of the teacher 
are withdrawn. 

Large as is the influence of education, we must 
not look upon it, even in the broadest sense, as re- 
sponsible for all the differences of character which we 
see exhibited. Helvetius, indeed, asserts that ' man 
is the product of his education' *; and Locke seems to 
have held, in a large measure, a similar view ; for he 
says ' the difference to be found in the manners and 
abilities of men is owing more to their education than 
to anything else,' and refers again to the same point 
on several occasions. But, to follow Helvetius is to 
grant to education a greater power than really belongs 
to it. The mind at birth is not a clear sheet upon 
which education writes certain characters, but posses- 
ses, undoubtedly, an inherited capability of develop 
ment — different in different individuals — which is a 
very important factor in the result achieved by educa- 
tion. The healthy child of intellectual parents should 
be able to advance much more rapidly than the child 
of parents who have little mental ability ; and doubt- 
less in the great majority of cases this is so. M. Ribot 
has dealt very successfully with this problem of 
heredity, and both he and Captain Francis Galton 
have shown us, in a very remarkable way, that even 

1 He says also, ' All men are born equal and with equal faculties, 
and education alone produces a difference between them.' 



12 The Work of Education. 

genius tends to be inherited. Nor is this inherited 
capability confined to the intellect ; it affects the 
morals also. There are some children to whom ad- 
vancement in morality is as difficult as advancement 
in mental ability is in others. There is also a moral 
idiocy, as well as an idiocy of intellect, and the two 
frequently do not go together. 

The remark is as old as Aristotle that ' education 
can improve nature, but not completely change it ' ; 
it has nothing to do "with creation or destruction, for 
both alike are impossible to it ; it can only strengthen 
and improve, or weaken and control. It can bring 
out the innate power of the mind, be it great or small, 
to its fullest extent ; but beyond this limit it cannot 
go. We cannot take any given mind, with all its 
faculties complete, and of it, by the most perfect ed- 
ucational process, make a mind of any order we please. 
The mind is not a certain mass of material, which it 
needs but the philosopher's stone of education to fuse 
and convert into any precious metal we may require ; 
but a living thing, growing from within outwards 
according to laws of its own, which must be attended 
to in our attempts to strengthen and direct this de- 
velopment. The idea, then, of drawing out must not 
lead us to forget that the faculties are active, not 
passive ; and that the educator's work is pretty much 
that of securing the most favorable conditions for 
growth, and supplying the requisite materials. 

The careful and thorough realization of the mean- 
ing and scope of education is especially important to 
teachers ; it will preserve us from taking any narrow 
view of our duty, it will keep the fact constantly 
before us that the child is an undeveloped man, and 
it will prevent our confusing the means with the end. 



The Meaning and Scope of Education. 13 

But, at the same time, we must be careful to appre- 
ciate, in its clearest and sharpest outlines, the possibly 
limited portion of the work, which it is our special 
business to attend to at the moment. We must 
recognize distinctly how much we can accomplish, 
and how much we must forego. We must not dream 
of a palace, and forget to build properly the plain 
brick wall, which, it may be, is our particular share of 
the great design. It will not do to talk largely of 
forming mental habits, ' training the mind,' and so on, 
and forget to give that sound connected substratum 
of knowledge, without which education, in its true 
sense, is impossible. 



14 The Work of Education. 



CHAPTER II. 

THREE LINES OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 

In considering the training and growth of the child, 
it is usual to divide education into five branches, 
I. physical, 2. intellectual, 3. moral, 4. religious, and 
5. aesthetic. It will, however, be sufficient for our 
present object to view the last three in conjunction, 
as the cultivation of the emotional nature. Though 
we may usefully group educational work for purposes 
of discussion, in practice the divisions, although 
broadly distinguished, intermingle and affect one 
another in various ways ; so that we cannot rightly 
regard them as definitely distinct and independent. 

Without some care for the health and even the 
comfort of the body, the intellect cannot be made to 
concentrate itself upon its work as it should do ; the 
attention is disturbed, the energy diminished, and the 
continuity of action often seriously interfered with. 
On the other hand, physical well-being has very 
frequently a moral significance. Conversely both the 
intellect and the morals exert a powerful reciprocal 
action upon the body. Many mental acts have a 
moral side. Morality without intelligence would be 
incomplete ; our conceptions of right and wrong would 
be of the haziest description, or well-nigh impossible; 
we should not be able to give a reason for our actions, 



Three Lines of Educational Development. 15 

and we should never be brought to act from a sense 
of duty. The morals, again, affect the intellect to a 
large extent, and their influence is needed to induce 
us voluntarily to undergo the work, which is necessary 
to the complete control and development of the intel- 
lectual powers. * Education,' writes Willm, 'should 
be religious that it may be more assuredly moral ; 
moral to be correctly religious ; and intellectual for 
the sake alike of religion and morality. . . . Each 
sentiment will become the more certainly what it 
ought to be, if all the others are concurrently culti- 
vated. The moral sentiments will be strengthened 
by the culture of the religious feelings, and the senti- 
ments of the beautiful ; the religious part of our 
nature will be fortified by our moral and sesthetical 
education ; the sentiment of the beautiful will be en- 
riched by the inspiration of the conscience, moral and 
religious ; and, in harmony, these will all profit by 
the riches of the intellect and the justness of the 
judgment.' 

1. Education of the Body. — Professor Bain would 
remove the consideration of physical education almost 
entirely from the teacher's work. 'The fact,' he says, 
'of bodily health or vigor is a leading postulate in 
bodily or mental training, but the trainer does not 
take upon himself to lay down rules of hygiene.' 
Directly, this may be true, but they concern him 
narrowly nevertheless ; he needs all the same to be 
well acquainted with them, and to secure as far as 
possible their being carried out into practice. Indi- 
rectly, the teacher is to a considerable extent answer- 
able for the physical welfare of his pupils, and the 
lamentable effects of school life upon young children, 
which we so frequently hear of nowadays, are in a 



1 6 The Work of Education. 

gieat measure the result of negligence in this respect. 
There can be no doubt that, if intellectual education 
is to be a success, there must be ' the sound mind in 
the sound body' ; and, though the teacher has a right 
to expect this when the child is placed under his 
care, it is also his business to see that the physical 
circumstances affecting the child during school hours, 
and the methods employed, do not conduce to harmful 
bodily results. Considerations of physical well-being 
will influence every department of school work. They 
will considerably modify the arrangements included 
under organization ; they will settle the nature and 
conditions of school drill ; they will abolish all inju- 
rious punishments, as holding up weights or going 
without food, so frequently resorted to in former 
times ; and they will limit and affect in many ways 
the details of teaching. To mention only a few points 
that lie upon the surface : the teacher will secure a 
proper supply of fresh air, light, and warmth ; he 
will see that all unnatural and injurious postures are 
avoided ; he will not allow too long a continuance in 
one position, or too long a strain upon the brain ; he 
will recognize the necessity of relief and variety, and 
the deadening effect of long-continued mere mechan- 
ical drill-work. More than this, it is his .duty to 
seize every available occasion for helping forward 
physical development, and for this purpose the play- 
ground will be found to afford many valuable oppor- 
tunities. The teacher can do much to encourage 

o 

recreation and useful exercises, and, at the same time, 
he can keep within proper limits any that tend to 
overtax the strength. With athletes he has little to 
do, but with healthy, active, and happy children a 
very great deal. If the educator look simply to the 



Three Lines of Educational Development. 17 

mental side of the pupil's nature, he may be tempted 
to foster the too early or the too rapid development 
of the intellect. The encouragement of precocity is 
a thing not confined to homes, but it is distinctly to 
be discountenanced wherever it may be found. 

2. Education of the Intellect. — The mind is doubt- 
less rightly to be viewed as a whole, manifesting its 
power in different ways, rather than as a mass of 
separate and independent faculties ; still its various 
modes of action — differing in manifestation, direction, 
and, frequently, in the objects operated upon — may 
usefully be regarded by the teacher as the result of 
different mental forces. The complex action of the 
faculties will be better understood when we have 
carefully considered in detail the various elements 
which go to make up this complexity . of operation. 
We shall also be the better able to provide for and 
direct the cultivation of the mind, if we thus isolate 
and fix the attention upon those distinguishing and 
predominating phases of activity which have given 
names to the various powers — as memory, imagination, 
reason, and so on. We may do this without asserting 
anything respecting the independence or singleness of 
action of the particular faculties, and without forget- 
ting the intimate association which exists between the 
various phases so named. The ordinary faculties are, 
as it were, the spectrum colors of the mind ; and as 
in the case of light there are innumerable gradations 
of tint, so in the mind there are numberless slightly 
different modes of operation. But as we find it con- 
venient to roughly group the spectrum tints into 
seven colors, so it is useful to give special names 
to the more distinct phases of mental action. And, 
as all the colors may be compounded from three 
c 



1 8 The Work of Education. 

primaries, so, what we ordinarily denominate faculties, 
we shall find may be ultimately resolved into three 
elementary processes. * If we do not lose sight of the 
fact/ remarks Ribot,./that the various faculties are 
only the unknown causes of known phenomena, that 
they are only a convenient means of classifying facts 
and speaking of them ; if we do not fall into the 
common error of making them substantial entities, 
personages who sometimes agree and sometimes 
differ, and who form a little republic in intelligence ; 
we do not see that there can be anything reprehen- 
sible in this distribution into faculties, in conformity 
with the rules of a healthy method and a good 
natural classification.' 

It is not easy, however, to make any complete 
list of the mental powers, and no very satisfactory 
classification of them seems to have beerL arrived at, 
or, at least, to be at all generally adopted. Professor 
Bain discards the ordinary style of analysis, and points 
out three properties only of mental action as funda- 
mentally distinct : — 

i. Discrimination or consciousness of difference. 

2. Retentiveness — the basis of memory and habit. 

3. Detection of similarity, or consciousness of 
agreement. 1 

He claims that these three great functions com- 
prehend all the commonly recognized faculties 
included under the intellect proper ; that is, exclud- 
ing the feelings and volition or will. 

The principal modes of mental action ordinarily 
recognized are the following : — sensation, perception, 
conception, attention, memory, imagination, reason, 
judgment, and reflection. Much difficulty is, how- 

1 See ' Senses and Intellect.' 



Three Lines of Educational Development. 19 

ever, experienced by the student of mental science 
from the want of logical consistency in the employ- 
ment of the common terms, one writer frequently 
including under one name more or less than another, 
or even using it in a quite different sense. 

Again, no exact order of the development of the 
faculties has been made out, inasmuch as the action 
of one involves the action of others to a greater or 
less extent. Still certain faculties act with their full 
strength at a much later period than others, and may 
be injuriously affected by being prematurely forced 
into operation. Thus one faculty may be characteristic 
of a particular period of childhood, and may be very 
usefully developed by frequent exercise, while another 
may still be very weak, and would be harmed by any 
strain brought to bear upon it to hasten its develop- 
ment. The teacher therefore needs to bear in mind 
certain broad rules which go some distance towards 
settling for him the sequence and severity of studies 
at certain periods ; as well as the suitability of certain 
devices he makes use of in his methods. Thus the 
frequent and regular exercise of the senses as the 
means of forming perceptions may take place almost 
from the cradle, the observation being appealed to, 
the attention gradually steadied, and use being made 
of the child's natural craving for knowledge and 
experience. The simpler forms of conception also 
are early developed, while the power of abstraction is 
of somewhat later growth. Memory soon comes into 
action ; and attention may be usefully exercised up 
to its strength from a very early date, although the 
continuous and concentrated form of this power can 
only be successfully counted upon when it has had 
considerable training. Imagination usually precedes 



20 The Work of Education. 

reason, which is weak until the mind is somewhat 
developed. Judgment and reflection are both late 
faculties ; the latter needing the employment, in a 
greater or less degree, of all those which precede it. 
1 Reflection/ says Dugald Stewart, ' is the last of our 
intellectual faculties that unfolds itself ; and in by 
far the greater number of individuals it never unfolds 
itself in any considerable degree. 

3. The Education of the Emotional Nature and the 
Will. — Of the three great divisions of mind — intel- 
lect, emotion, and volition — the last two still remain 
to be briefly mentioned. To give bodily vigor and 
intellectual ability, without any moral foundation to 
the character, is to give an education, not only want- 
ing in completeness, but in balance ; an education 
which may be mischievous both to the individual and 
to society. 

The emotions need to be gradually brought more 
or less under control ; the sense of duty awakened ; 
the moral judgment formed ; wrong tendencies cor- 
rected ; and the recognition of the beauty of right and 
order, of nature and art, established ; while the will — 
developed by exercise, enlightened by experience, and 
stimulated by proper motives — assumes the guidance 
of the whole nature, and steers it in accordance with 
fixed principles of right and duty. 

Further, we have to lead the child step by step 
from dependence on an earthly father, and obedience 
to that father's will and authority, to fashion his life 
in accordance with the Divine Will, and to recognize 
in the Supreme Being a Heavenly Father in whom 
'we live and move and have our being,' and who is 
' our refuge and strength, a very present help in 
trouble.' 



Three Lines of Educational Development. 21 

In endeavoring to train to right action, we need 
to take into consideration then : — 

1. The initiative power, that is, the motives — 
emotional impulses or other sources whence action 
springs. 

2. The legislative power, that is, the action of 
the moral intelligence and judgment, which decides 
whether an action is right or wrong, and hence 
whether it should be done or not. 

3. The administrative power, that is, the power of 
will, whereby we adhere to and carry out the deci- 
sions arrived at by the intellect and the conscience. 

4. The reflective power, whereby we recognize the 
result or consequence of the action as in accordance 
with our previous judgment or not, and which has a 
considerable influence on succeeding actions. 

These need to be continually kept in sight by the 
educator, and each must receive attention in accord- 
ance with the state of the pupil's advancement ; but 
it must not be expected that all will act from the first, 
or even until considerable training and development 
have been given to the child's nature. The simplest 
phases of emotion, e. g. of sympathy or repulsion, are 
to be traced back to the perceptional stage ; they are 
developed side by side with ideas, and may be made 
use of, more or less, almost from the beginning. By 
experience, teaching, and the development of the 
moral intelligence there becomes gradually fixed in 
the mind a perception of the distinction between right 
and wrong, and of the necessity of choosing the one 
and avoiding the other. The growth of the sense of 
duty is, however, very slow ; and while we should 
exercise it as far as its strength goes, and have its 
cultivation ever before us, it cannot be safely or 



22 The Work of Education. 

usefully appealed to alone in tHe early stages. At 
first the child is swayed almost entirely by personal 
sympathy, by authority, and by pleasure and pain 
connected with the acts themselves ; its notions of 
right and wrong are pretty much those of allowed or 
forbidden ; but there gradually arises the consciousness 
of independence, of power to act in a particular way 
according to the determination we form. The will 
comes to be recognized as something quite distinct from 
ideas or from emotions, and the child comes to feel 
that he must not only make a choice, but that he 
must adhere to the particular course of conduct 
chosen. This determinative power grows with effort, 
and, as we shall find later on, the teacher may do 
much to foster and direct its growth. 

It is necessary, too, that the child should not only 
feel the pleasure or pain attendant upon certain 
actions, but should recognize that pleasure or pain is 
the more or less remote consequence of particular 
lines of conduct, the pleasure of duty fulfilled from 
proper motives being of the highest kind. Where 
the effect is immediate the connection is early per- 
ceived, but the reflective power necessary to the 
perception of remoter results is of much later growth, 
and must not be counted upon until considerable 
development and experience have been gained. The 
discipline of consequences, as it has been called, depends 
upon this power of recognition, and will be effective 
only in proportion to its development. 

The teacher has to consider how he will best give 
effect to the proper growth of each power, what 
order he will adopt in his moral teaching, in what 
degree he will appeal to each faculty at different 
periods, what inducements he will hold out, what 



Three Lines of Educational Dcvelopmait. 2 3 

measures of coercion he will adopt, and what use is 
to be made of the influences of example and sur- 
rounding circumstances. And this has to be done 
with a wise discretion, a loving sympathy for the 
child, a patience of waywardness and backsliding, 
a justness of judgment, a keenness of insight, a 
moderation of control, and a watchfulness that never 
sleeps. These make the work as difficult as it is 
important. 

We have not only to teach a child to know the 
right, or even to implant in him the desire for right 
conduct, but also to lead him gradually to perceive 
the means whereby right action may be made pos- 
sible ; and we must gradually unfold to him as he is 
able to bear it, the reasons for such and such an act 
being performed. This is more especially necessary 
where most likely to be neglected, in that large class 
of actions which do not seem of much importance in 
themselves but have a wrong tendency ; the direction 
of which is liable to be left to chance, and whose 
power is frequently unrealized, it is to be feared, 
even by the teacher himself. 



24 The Work of Education. 



CHAPTER III. 

SOME LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM A BRIEF 
CONSIDERATION OF SENSATION, PERCEPTION,, 
CONCEPTION, AND ATTENTION. 

A. Sensation, Perception, and Conception. 

The senses are usually spoken of as five in number — 
sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. There is also 
a 'muscular sense,' and a variety of internal sensa- 
tions connected with organic life ; with these latter,, 
however, we have little to do. 

The organs of the outer senses are various nerve 
gro?4ps connecting certain parts of the body — as the 
eye, the ear, the mouth, the nose, and the skin — - 
directly or indirectly with the brain. Each group of 
nerves, under ordinary circumstances, answers only 
to its own class of stimuli. Thus the eye is affected 
by light, the ear by sound, the skin by touch, the 
nose by smells or odors, and certain nerves of the 
mouth by the property of bodies called taste. Those 
nerves which convey impressions to the brain are 
called sensory, afferent, or in-carrying nerves ; while 
those which transmit messages outwards to the 
various parts of the body are termed motor, efferent, 
or out-carrying. 

All nerve impressions are finally transmitted to,. 



Sensation, Perception, and Conception. 25 

and all return messages received from, the groups of 
nerve matter lying along, and forming the base of, 
the brain. These sensory ganglia are called col- 
lectively the sensorium} In all probability the sen- 
sorium is the seat of consciousness, and forms the 
central station, in connection on the one side with 
the various parts of the body, and on the other with 
the higher portion of the brain called the cerebrum. 
According to this view, the impressions sent up to- 
the cerebrum act as materials for the mind to work 
upon, and the results, or thoughts, are, as it were, 
telegraphed down again to the sensorium, before we 
become conscious of them. Thus while the cerebrum 
acts as the legislative power of the mind, the sen- 
sorium — having the whole of the nerves under its 
control — alone publishes the results, or performs the 
administrative functions. 

When some outward stimulus — the action of some 
external body or influence — operates upon the nerves 
of a particular sense in an appropriate manner, the 
immediate result of the contact is called a sense- 
impression. Directly this nervous excitement affects 
the consciousness, and we feel that certain changes 
have ' occurred in our own " subjective " state, but 
do not refer these changes to any external or objec- 
tive source,' the sense impression has become a sensa- 
tion. The attention is here centred not upon the 
cause, but upon the feeling produced. As we become 
conscious of the latter, the mind at once refers the 
sense impressions to the origin of the nerves which 
convey them to the brain, and this leads to the locali- 
zation of the sensation, and the identification of the 

1 See Carpenter's Mental Physiology — a valuable book to the 
teacher, and one to which I have been frequently indebted. 



26 The Work of Education. 

outward source of the affection. The attention is 
now transferred from the feeling to the outer cause, 
and the recognition of this has extended the sensation 
into a perception. But were it not for the power of 
the mind to continue and recall the effects, this phase 
of consciousness would cease to exist directly the 
impressing force were withdrawn. The perception- 
results, however, are mentally registered, and become 
items of knowledge concerning some external body, 
that is, become ideas, or notions, which may be re- 
called at a future time. This apprehension and re- 
tention by the mind of certain particulars of objects 
is the simplest form of ideation. 

A sensation, then, is the mental side of a sense- 
impression — the addition of consciousness ; a percep- 
tion implies a sensation together with the recognition 
of the cause ; the stored result of a perception is an 
elementary idea. The senses are merely reporters, 
and it depends upon the mind whether the communi- 
cations are made use of or not. Perception indirectly 
makes us acquainted with objects ; directly, it is 
concerned with properties or qualities, as form, color, 
size, &c. ; but when a number of these fundamental 
ideas are compounded, or associated together, we 
gain an idea of the body to which the qualities belong. 
The first notions are exceedingly limited and im- 
perfect ; improved attention, much experience, and 
many corrections are necessary before clearness is 
arrived at. These corrections arise mainly from the 
comparison of the perceptions obtained through one 
sense with those recorded through others. After the 
formation and fixing of the perception-results, we 
may recognize several developments as separate in 
kind, though in actual experience they run one into 



Sensation, Perception, and Conception. 27 

another in a very complex way. First, we have the 
reproduction of simple ideas from the impressions 
stored in the mind by a kind of involuntary memory. 
Secondly, the organization and combination of all the 
essential features of a group of simple ideas, so as to 
form a general idea or common notion of a thing as 
one of a class — the individual peculiarities and 
details, not essential to the recognition of the object, 
being omitted. This process of fusion we may call 
simple generalization, and the sign of a general idea 
or notion so formed is a common noun. Thirdly, viz, 
learn later on to separate a certain quality from a 
class of objects, and to contemplate it as a thing 
apart from the associated concretes, recognizing it as 
having no separate existence, yet perfectly conceivable 
by the mind, as whiteness or wisdom. This process 
may be termed simple abstraction, and the signs of 
the products obtained are abstract nouns. And lastly, 
we have the power whereby the mind realizes, or 
pictures out to itself, the ideas suggested to it. 

All these exercises of mind extending beyond 
mere perception, and concerned with the manipulation 
or realization of ideas, may be conveniently grouped 
together under one common term — conception, though 
the word has been used, at different times, to denote 
each of the processes separately. Conception, there- 
fore, is the faculty whereby the products of perception 
are grouped, and to a certain extent, recombined, and 
the complex ideas thus formed are imaged forth to 
the mind. Thus we see conception shades into 
memory on the one hand, and imagination on the 
other. 

Perception and conception thus supply us with 
the materials for thought, without which the higher 



28 The Work of Education. 

forms of intellectual activity could not take place,, 
and words would be meaningless. It is true that a 
large share of our knowledge is not the direct result 
of our perceptions, but is received on the testimony 
of others ; still, after all, it arises immediately or 
mediately from perception, and before the knowledge 
communicated to us can be judged of, or even under- 
stood, we must have gone through a wide range of 
sense experience for ourselves. When once a clear 
and fixed idea has been gained this may be recalled 
by means of words, but an entirely new perception 
cannot be gained or imparted in this way. It is im- 
possible to give a man, born blind, any adequate idea 
of color ; one blind man's notion of red was that it was 
something like the braying of a trumpet. This shows 
us that language is merely a set of symbols, and 
cannot of itself give knowledge until the ideas for 
which the words stand have been arrived at in other 
ways. Few principles have been more largely in- 
sisted on by educators, from quite early times, than 
that we should give ideas in teaching, not mere words. 
This is perfectly correct, but we should not run into 
the opposite extreme, and endeavor to give ideas 
without the corresponding words. The teacher should 
bear in mind that both things are necessary, the 
formation of complete and correct notions, and the 
power to express these ideas in suitable language. 
Not only is the direct progress from ideas to words of 
value, but also frequently the converse process — the 
passage from words back again to things. 

The senses have not inaptly been termed the 
1 five gateways of knowledge,' inasmuch as they form 
the means of communication between the mind and 
the outer world. The senses, as the handmaids of 



•Sensation, Perception, and Conccptio7i. 29 

perception, are of eminent use in the acquisition of 
those fundamental facts, which are based on observa- 
tion ; and, for this reason, they should be sedulously 
cultivated, apart from any increased acuteness which 
may be useful in other ways. 'The education of the 
senses neglected, all after education partakes of a 
drowsiness, a haziness, an insufficiency, which it is 
impossible to cure.' Young children, then, should be 
supplied with plenty of objects on which to exercise 
their senses ; let them handle, see, hear, taste, and 
smell things for themselves, the parent or teacher 
giving all necessary guidance and aid. The observa- 
tion should be so directed that they may grasp the 
essential characteristics of things, and learn to recog- 
nize both the likenesses and the differences which 
objects present to the senses. 

A certain amount of effort of mind or attention is 
necessary even for sensation, and still more for per- 
ception. Frequently when the attention is distracted 
by other things the impressions made on the senses 
are not translated even into sensations. We may be 
close to a loud ticking clock for hours, and be utterly 
unconscious of any noise. This shows us that in 
training the perceptive faculty, the great thing is to 
catch the attention, and direct the mind to what it is 
to recognize. 

The three qualities we should aim at fostering in 
the action of the senses and the perceptive faculty 
are : — 

1. Rapidity of reception. 

2. Intensity or vividness of impression. 

3. Vivacity in seizing details. 

Each of these is a natural gift possessed from 
birth (probably through the action of heredity), in a 



$o The Work of Education. 

much greater degree by some individuals than by 
others ; yet all three are capable of great develop- 
ment and improvement. The first depends upon the 
presentation to the mind of a large number of objects, 
and gives quickness of recognition. The second 
depends more upon the extent of the change from a 
previous state, than upon the absolute amount of 
stimulus applied, and leads to depth or firmness of 
mental impression. The third depends upon the 
amount of attention, and results in clearness and 
fulness of perception. Robert Houdin, the conjuror, 
trained the sense of sight in his son to such a degree, 
that after a glance at such a thing, say, as a toy shop, 
or a library, he was able to name a most wonderful 
list of objects and details observed. 

The consideration of the exercises most suited to 
early childhood will prevent us burdening the child 
too soon with book work. On the other hand, be- 
cause they appeal largely to the senses, and offer 
such excellent training to the perceptive faculty, Wes- 
sons on 'form' and 'color,' and 'object lessons,' are 
of great value to young children. 1 For a similar 
reason books for the young should be illustrated with 
good pictures, and frequent use should be made by 
the teacher of the blackboard. In this connection 
also the Kindergarten system is most admirable, but 
it should be kept in its proper place, and not allowed 
to become a mere hobby, so as to usurp the place of 
later exercises. 

1 It will be seen from the above that the too frequent plan of 
teaching an object lesson without the object, or even without a model 
or picture, merely to impart so much book knowledge, is entirely be- 
side the mark. 



Attention. 



b. Attention. 



Attention perhaps has less claim than almost any 
other faculty to be regarded as single. It is rather 
the co-ordinating and controlling force exerted by 
the mind upon its various powers, so as to bring into 
strongest action this or that particular phase of its 
activity. It narrows our mental working into one 
channel, and eventually renders it subservient to the 
will. It is essentially a limiting and selective power, 
so far as breadth or extensity of mental action is con- 
cerned, and an augmentative power with regard to 
the strength or intensity of such action. The mind, 
having by its aid more or less completely excluded 
all other objects but the chosen one, directs its whole 
force upon this. It is, as it were, the means possessed 
by the mind of focussing itself upon an object ; the 
more its range is narrowed, the greater is the power 
it possesses of dealing with that which is left. 

Attention is necessary to the correct use of all 
the faculties. It is the essence of mental work and 
has often been spoken of as an indispensable element 
of genius. It affects all sides of the intellect and is 
one of the very foundations upon which memory is 
built. It also acts upon the emotional nature, tending 
to withdraw us from painful or injurious states of 
feeling, and to select for us those which are bene- 
ficial. So great is its power, that even the intensest 
bodily pain may not be felt when the mind is strongly 
directed to other things. It is said that Robert Hall 
was unconscious of a very painful disease while 
preaching ; and many a soldier does not know he is 
wounded, until the excitement of battle cools down, 



32 The Work of Education. 

and he is able to direct his mind to other things than 
fighting. The importance of attention, in fact, can 
scarcely be over-estimated. No more valuable men- 
tal habit can be formed in children, and it behooves 
the teacher to give earnest heed to this fact in all 
departments of his work. 

The concentration of mind produced by attention, 
when the result of an effort of will, is accompanied 
by a sense of strain, and this tension — suggested by 
the meaning of the word attention — seems to be the 
great source of mental fatigue. After an effort of this 
kind, change in the form of activity, or change of 
object, affords rest; just as the eye after being com- 
pletely fatigued by looking at red, finds rest in re- 
garding green. Now, while continuing the effort long 
enough to give thorough exercise to the faculty, we 
should be careful, in the case of children, not to strain 
their attention. Hence one great reason for variety 
in teaching ; and this variety may be given without 
humoring the natural volatility of children. It is 
change of interest, change of view, change of manner, 
rather than frequent change of subject, which is 
needed. 

The principal qualities of attention seem to be 
(i) vivacity — or the power of transferring the mental 
gaze from one thing to another; (2) intensity — or 
the power of concentrating the mind wholly upon a 
single point ; and, (3) continuity — or lasting power. 

Some children seem naturally to possess a larger 
share of the faculty of attention than others, in fact 
this power varies very greatly in different individuals, 
not only in degree but in kind. Some can, with the 
greatest ease, transfer their attention from object to 
object, while others take a long time to change, but 



Attention. 33 

possess greater depth and acuteness. The first, as 
Dr. Carpenter points out, need training to greater 
fixity ; the second to more rapid change of direction. 
Some children give attention easily to some things, 
and with difficulty to others ; some have their atten- 
tion apparently absorbed by external things, some by 
day-dreams or their own thoughts. 

The power of the attention may be controlled in 
two quite different ways : (i) from without, through 
the interest aroused by external things attracting it ; 
and (2) from within, by the action of the will compelling 
it. The first acts spontaneously, and is almost the 
only means of control in the case of young children, 
the will having as yet hardly the slightest power of 
government. The second is the result of habit, and 
of gradual growth. By practice the will gains more 
and more power over the attention, until at last we 
can compel the mind to contemplate earnestly, and 
for a certain length of time, even very unpleasant 
things. This gradual domination of attention by 
the will is one of the most important points in edu- 
cation. 

In nearly all cases the attention of children may 
be fixed on things ; but with difficulty upon ideas 
presented merely in words, unless well within their 
experience, and upon subjects interesting to them. 
This affords us a further reason why we should give 
little ones plenty to see and handle. It fixes an ad- 
ditional value to 'object lessons,' and shows us how 
unsuitable is mere lecture as an early method of 
teaching. The fact, too, that young children of the 
same age are not all capable of giving the same 
degree of attention, will lead the teacher to make 
numerous small modifications in his practice and 

D 



34 The Work of Education. 

treatment, without which much good would be lost 
and mischief result. 

A young child's attention, then, is to be secured 
by engaging his sympathy, by interesting him, by 
finding him something to do, by rendering the ob- 
ject to which we wish him to give his mind more 
attractive than its surroundings. To do this effect- 
ively often requires all the devices of manner and 
skill of presentment which the teacher has at his 
command. It is the necessity for attractiveness which 
makes brightly colored pictures so useful in teaching 
little ones. For a similar reason wood-cuts in read- 
ing books are not only helpful in giving clearness of 
idea, but also in adding interest. 

Attention in the case of the young cannot be en- 
forced by commands or punishment. This can only 
take place later on when the will has asserted its 
control. A little child's attention cannot be given by 
mere effort to an uninteresting thing, and is not to be 
depended upon. To scold such a one for inattention 
is to blame him for not putting into action a power 
which he does not possess, and will only possess when 
it has by long practice gradually developed itself. 
Later on punishment may at times have a use, but it 
is generally a dangerous motive to employ in the case 
of attenticn. It is extremely difficult to estimate the 
exact amount of effort made ; it may have been 
greater than we judge, and the punishment con- 
sequently unjust. It has been noted that it is the 
habit of attention — the ready conscious direction of 
the mind by an effort of will — that we wish to bring 
about. Now attention obeys the ordinary law of 
exercise ; each effort makes the next one easier of 
performance. Hence as the child's age and experience 



Attention. 35 

increase, and his will develops, we may exact more 
and more of attention from him ; making allowances 
for necessary defects, but keeping well up to the limit 
of his power. We have not only to supply opportuni 
ties, but frequently to lend our aid with motives, 
until the child has learned to exercise his attention 
entirely by his power of self-control. We must be 
on the watch to guard against that desultory atten- 
tion which acts by fits and starts, and we must not 
be deceived by the listless fixed gaze of the eye when 
the mind is. far away. 

We must look also to the child's physical sur- 
roundings. Long continuance in one posture, a hot 
close room, a dazzling light, bodily fatigue or want of 
ease, and many other similar things, all affect atten- 
tion prejudicially ; and their action upon the child 
should be prevented as far as possible. To try to 
force attention in cases of physical fatigue or uneasi- 
ness is to produce an injurious nervous prostration. 

It is important also to give a child no more to do 
than he can accomplish well. The hurried scramble 
to get over a large amount of work is inimical to that 
depth of attention which is so valuable ; and leads to 
that partial phase of concentration which ends in 
superficiality, and in half-formed ideas. In no other 
direction will educational training tell more power- 
fully or beneficially than in guiding and develop- 
ing the power of attention — from the first efforts at 
observation, to those disciplined and continuous 
efforts where the mind is able to exert its whole force 
within the range prescribed by the will. 



36 The Work of Education. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MEMORY IN EDUCATION. 

It has been seen that if an impression is weak, its 
effect may not be recognized, or, at most, it may 
affect the consciousness but for an instant. If, how- 
ever, the impression is stronger it passes to the portion 
of the brain concerned with the higher processes, and 
forms an idea. Directly a second idea presents itself 
the first passes from the consciousness, but it is not 
lost; in some subtle way that we do not understand 
it is registered, and may at a future time, under 
suitable conditions, be recalled. So any idea which 
has once been distinctly before the mind may, within 
a variable time, be again brought to light by an effort 
of the will. It thus appears that the mind possesses 
the power of taking hold of ideas and fixing them, 
and further, in connection with this registering power 
the capability of reproducing the ideas thus laid by. 

This phase of the mind's action in storing its 
products, and in reviving them at a future time when 
needed, the recollection being accompanied by a 
recognition of their having previously occupied the 
consciousness, we call memory. 'When our intuitions 
are revived,' says Dr. Morell, 'so that we are fully 
conscious of the affinity between the type and the 
antitype, then we are said to possess memory properly 



Memory in Education. 37 

so called.' Persons who possess the power of keeping 
a large number of consciously stored ideas just ready 
for use, and who can at once bring them forward when 
wanted, are said to be possessed of a good memory. 
A good memory, however, does not, in the vast 
majority of cases, mean a facile power of remembering 
all classes of ideas alike ; this probably very few people 
possess. What particular class of facts the mind can 
most readily treat in this way depends upon individual 
power and previous training. ' We are all blockheads 
in something,' remarks Professor Bain, ' some of us 
fail in mechanical aptitude, some in music, some in 
languages, some in science. Memory in one of these 
lines of incapacity is a rope of sand.' 

Most of us are apt to take it for granted that the power 
of acquiring and retaining for use new ideas is unlimited ; 
but we may soon convince ourselves that this is not so. 
Minds vary very largely in this respect, of course, and the 
boundary in most cases may not be reached ; but there can 
be no doubt that such a limit exists for each particular mind, 
and that no matter how studious we may be, beyond a cer- 
tain point the acquisition of fresh information means also 
the letting slip part of that which previously formed our 
available stock of mental wealth. 

There is reason to believe that the ideas reproduced by 
the action of the memory affect the same portions of the 
nervous mechanism — and in the same way, though almost 
always in a less powerful degree — which were affected in 
the original formation of the idea, the cause of the affection 
only being different. Professor Bain mentions the very 
remarkable fact, as having been determined by experiment, 
that ' the persistent imagination of a bright color fatigues 
the nerves of sight.' 

In many instances an idea comes to occupy the 
mind so frequently, and each time, it may be, in a 



38 The Work of Education. 

slightly changed form, or in other connections, that 
it is at length grasped in all its completeness and 
variety of aspect. It is associated with other similar 
ideas, becomes exactly defined by its companionship, 
and is assimilated, as it were, into the fibre of the 
mind. When we reproduce it for use we are quite 
unconscious of the source from which it came, and of 
the individual forms of which it was compounded. 
Here the antitype has vanished, and though the 
storing of such ideas is really a most valuable exercise 
of memory, broadly viewed, we do not usually speak 
of it as such. Powerful minds assimilate complex 
ideas in this way far more readily and completely than 
ordinary minds, so that large stores of information, 
which are simply retained as an act of what is usually 
called memory by the latter, are by the former 
grasped by a kind of instinct in all their fulness and 
diversity of form, and are ready at any instant for any 
use to which they can be applied. The more our 
knowledge is of this digested kind, the more truly 
may it be said that it 'is power.' Newton and 
Shakespeare, though not possessed of any remarkable 
faculty of memory in the ordinary sense, readily 
assimilated knowledge in this perfect way; and 
hence were able to make such powerful and extensive 
use of it. With most men the process of assimilation 
is a slow one, but it is a sure one. 

Though the power of memory, then, is an inherent 
quality of the mind, yet it may be aided in its action 
in many ways ; and accustoming it to the ready use 
of these aids is what we really mean by training the 
memory. It will therefore be necessary, if we would 
clearly understand the working of memory, and em- 
ploy it most usefully in education, to consider, not 



Memory in Education. 39 

only the means for strengthening the retention of 
ideas, and aiding their ready reproduction, but also 
the initial process of preparing and taking hold of .the 
material ; that is, we shall have to make ourselves 
acquainted with the three stages — apprehension, 
retention, and reproduction. True they interfuse a 
good deal, and in practice cannot be separated ; but 
it will conduce to clearness if we here notice them 
separately. 

A. Apprehension. 

By apprehension is here meant the mode of 
taking hold of the ideas we wish to fix in the mind, 
the method we adopt of feeding the memory as it 
were — the preparatory operation to memory proper. 
This is dependent in a large measure on the manner 
of presentation. We may present material to the 
memory in many ways, with the addition of special 
preparation and devices to aid its action, or without 
them. When we present ideas simply as so many 
dissociated fragments, or independent facts, we are 
exercising it in the lowest, because least helpful and 
intelligent, way. We are trusting to the retentive or 
fixing power alone, and all we ask of the mind is, that 
it shall carry the material presented without acting 
upon it, and so deliver it up again in exactly the same 
form in which it was received. 

To this exercise of the memory the terms mechan- 
ical, portative, local, and verbal have been applied. 
There are some classes of facts which we need to 
treat in this way, but even in such cases we should 
reduce the mechanical nature of the operation as 
much as possible, and at least secure that ideas are 
presented to the mind, not mere words remembered 



40 The Work of Education. 

by their sounds only. We shall find that some aid,, 
too, may be given in most cases of the kind. The 
exercise of the memory merely for the purpose of 
carrying information in one form — learning 'by rote," 
or 'by heart,' as it is called — has been frequently 
much decried ; and some exceedingly roundabout 
methods of learning languages, and other things, have 
been invented in order to avoid it. But the fault lies 
not in using the power, for it has a distinct province 
of its own, but in applying it to things much better 
learned in other ways. 

To persons who possess the ability in a markepl 
degree of memorizing a form of words, the temptation 
is very great to save themselves trouble, by relying on 
this power alone. 'An unskilful teacher,' remarks. 
Archbishop Whately, 'is content to put before his 
pupils what they have to learn, and ascertaining th^t 
they remember it ; and thus those of them whose 
memory is ready and retentive, have their mind left 
in a perfectly passive state, and are like a person 
always carried about in a sedan chair, till he has. 
almost lost the use of his limbs. And then it is made 
a wonder that a person who has been so well taught,, 
and who was so quick in learning and remembering,, 
should not prove an able man ; which is about as 
reasonable as to expect that a copious cistern, if filled, 
should be converted into a perennial fountain.' 

The exercise of memory, then, without reason or 
judgment, should not be resorted to when any higher 
method can be applied ; when it is so, the result is. 
' cram.' Usually when facts are crammed they are 
crushed into the mind to serve some temporary pur- 
pose, and are as rapidly lost as they were gained,, 
without leaving any benefit behind. One of the very 



Memory in Education. 41 

worst forms of ' cram ' is the learning of answers to 
questions likely to come in an examination. It 
destroys all independent intelligence, and reduces the 
pupil to the level of a mere machine. 

Passing to the higher and more valuable exercises 
of the faculty under consideration, we find that the way 
in which we learn a thing is a most important element 
in its successful manipulation by the memory. Much 
time is saved and power gained by the proper prep- 
aration of the material — the transformation of it by 
the use of the other faculties into the best form for 
the memory to hold, the condensation of it by 
retaining essentials only, and the addition of any 
subsidiary aids which may lend their assistance. The 
following are some of the most important points to be 
borne in mind in presenting facts to the memory, so 
as to give the maximum of readiness, usefulness, and 
intelligence. 

1. We should carefully discriminate between 
important and unimportant facts, principal and sub- 
ordinate, the thing illustrated and the illustration, a 
general truth and the individual example, and fix the 
mind firmly upon the former in each case. 

In reading a book much valuable time is frequently 
misspent from trying to remember too much at once. By 
mastering the fundamental portions, the skeleton as it were, 
first, the rest falls naturally into its place, and we gain a 
grasp of the whole, which rarely comes of mere unmethodical 
industry. Of course discrimination of this kind exists only 
to a very small extent in children ; it is a matter of training. 
The teacher, therefore, should make the best of his oppor- 
tunities, and in his own teaching not only make the most 
important things the most prominent, but see also that the 
children recognize the facts which it is specially important 



42 The Work of Education. 

they should remember. Very rarely does it seem that pupils 
are taught nowadays how to study. They are told what 
to do, and left to discover the best way for themselves. 
This is a loss even from the present point of view. 

2. A further aid is rendered to memory by judic- 
ious selection. Of many facts equally important from 
different points of view, some only will be valuable 
for the purpose we have in hand. We must learn, 
therefore, if we would place memory under the best 
possible working conditions, to select the ideas which 
we need to make most use of at the present time, and 
allow the rest to sink into a secondary place until 
their turn comes. 

We shall frequently be guided in our selection by the 
suggestiveness of the particular facts, by their serving as 
keys to other ideas we wish to fix, and by the possibility of 
readily connecting them so as to form a continuous chain. 
Skilful selection is one of the secrets of ' getting up ' in- 
formation. In teaching we must take care also that the 
facts chosen are suitable, both in matter and words, to the 
age and understanding of our pupils. A child who is 
battling with a number of difficulties at the same time is 
scarcely likely to conquer any one thoroughly, and all energy 
needlessly drawn off in other directions is so much loss to 
memory. Many otherwise good lessons are spoiled by want 
of discrimination in matters of selection, and much of the 
superficiality we so often hear complained of is in part to be 
charged to the same defect. 

3. Help of another kind is afforded by classifica- 
tion and arrangement ; by grouping facts in the most 
suitable way ; and by attending carefully to the form 
of presentation, or the neatest mode by which they 
can be expressed. 

We must assist children to recognize the common ele- 



Memory in Education. 43 

ment which justifies the combining of a group of ideas ; 
teach them how to classify for themselves, and how to re- 
model and rearrange information, so as to render the acqui- 
sition of it easy and most useful. The value of method in 
work is not likely to be over-estimated. Even in the lowest 
class of exercises — where we have simply to memorize 
facts — to put the ideas in the best form, or to notice any 
common peculiarity is often of great assistance. Thus, the 
value of the sines and cosines of the angles o°, 30 , 45 , 
6o°, and 90 maybe remembered with the greatest ease by 
arranging them in order under a common root sign. It is a 
help to notice that the deaths of the first three Edwards all 
end in 7, and that the value of 7r, fff, consists of the first 
three odd numbers taken twice. The verse form is a well- 
known help, and alliteration acts in a similar way. Every 
one must at some time have been thankful for — 'Thirty 
days hath September,' &c, and most of those who have 
learned a foreign language must have felt how much time 
was saved by versifying exceptions to grammatical rules. 
As long as these artificial aids are kept to the proper kind 
of facts, it is a mistake to throw away their assistance. 

4. Great importance should be attached to princi- 
ples and laws, especially in teaching science. These 
should be illustrated from many sides till thoroughly 
understood, and then rendered permanent by apply- 
ing them in numerous instances to explain any facts 
which they cover. 

It should, however, be remembered, in this con- 
nection, that the power of reasoning necessary for the 
clear grasp of a principle, or a scientific law, is not 
sufficiently developed in childhood to make the 
mastery of it so complete as to be of much use. 
We must train the reason, but we must not strain it, 
and hence, in the case of young pupils, we must give 
a large number of illustrations and examples, and be 



44 The Work of Education. 

content at first with a feeble grasp of the principle 
It is quite possible to overdo the giving of reasons : 
to steer clear of either extreme is the proper course 
When reasoning can be easily comprehended it is a 
great mistake to load the mind with a number of 
separate explanations of phenomena, which a few laws 
well mastered would completely account for. 

Careful attention to the laws underlying the formation 
of mathematical formulas will often render the remembrance 
of the forms quite easy, where otherwise they would be 
decidedly burdensome. A theory, again, even when not 
necessarily true, is often of great service in giving order and 
coherence to individual truths, which, without such working 
hypothesis, would be a confused mass of details. What- 
ever, for instance, may be thought of the evolution theory, 
it is certainly of the greatest value in giving logical consist- 
ency to a large group of facts. Frequently a faulty theory 
has been the means by which a more exact one has been 
rendered feasible. It is quite possible to keep the distinc- 
tion between theories and demonstrated facts perfectly 
clear, and yet derive from the former a very large measure 
of help in grasping and retaining the latter. 

5. Another point is to attend carefully to the 
logical sequence of ideas, to trace cause into effect, to 
so place one fact that it may in part suggest the next, 
to make good the connection between the various 
parts of our teaching at all points where it is practi- 
cally possible. 

Instruction is not only of far more value, but is much 
more readily remembered, when given on some definite and 
well-considered scheme, than when given in a desultory 
fragmentary way. Simple trains of reasoning, too, may 
frequently be introduced into our teaching in such a manner 
as not only to train that faculty, but also give coherence 



Memory in Education. 45 

to the facts. This, it will be found later on, is a very 
valuable aid to memory. 

6. It must be borne in mind also that a sufficient 
amount of time should always be given to obtain 
clearness and exactness of idea. The festina lente 
(hasten slowly) principle is of great value here, as 
elsewhere, in education. Vague and incomplete im- 
pressions are never well remembered. 

'The common observation,' says Maria Edgeworth, 
* that we can attend to but one thing at a time, should 
never be forgotten by those who expect to succeed in the 
art of teaching.' Children must not be hurried ; one point 
must be allowed to ' soak in ' before the next is given. 
Many a teacher rains the effect of his work not only by talking 
too fast, but by saying too much. The children do not seem 
to realize what he has just said, and instead of giving them 
time to collect themselves, he starts off instantly to put the 
fact in some new way. This makes ' confusion worse con- 
founded,' when, probably, all that was wanted was a little 
patience. The speed of teaching will depend largely upon 
the difficulty and importance of the facts to be apprehended. 
Easy ideas, well within the experience of children, may be 
taught rapidly, others more slowly, some very slowly. 

7. Lastly, if we wish the apprehensive power to 
act in the most perfect manner we must cultivate 
habits of observation, inquiry, comparison, and steady 
perseverance ; we must exercise the faculties, not inde- 
pendently, but in relation. 

The faulty testimony we frequently hear given results 
often more from defective observation than from any fault 
in the retentive power. Exactness, whether it be of words 
•or ideas, is of great importance. If we do not take the 
trouble to observe closely, or carelessly color or exagger- 
ate facts in giving an account of them to others, we 



46 The Work of Education. 

frequently end by deluding ourselves. 'It is well to re- 
member,' remarks Noah Porter, ' that while the liar has 
more pressing need of a good memory than any other man, 
he is of all men least likely to possess it.' 

We should accustom children to look carefully, to 
listen attentively, and to describe accurately. It will 
be frequently necessary to direct them in looking at 
an object, and we can test by questions how far they 
have seen all that we intended. Similarly, we can re- 
quire them to reproduce what they have been listening 
to, laying stress on the words to be repeated or the ideas 
to be re-expressed, according to our intention. The use 
of comparison in teaching has also a very wide applica- 
tion. Every one who is fairly acquainted with even a 
couple of languages, at all similar, knows what a help 
to memory is afforded by the comparative method of 
study ; and it is also of special service in such subjects 
as geography, grammar, history, object lessons, and 
natural science. 

B. Retention. 

The retaining or recording power is that by means 
of which, when an idea has been apprehended, we hold 
it just ready for use at a future time, though during: 
the interval it is lost to the consciousness. The mind, 
as it were, continues the idea in a latent state, and in 
such a manner that it may be brought to light again 
when wanted. As time goes on, the idea sinks, so to 
speak, deeper and deeper beneath the surface, needing 
more and more effort to bring it up, until at last an 
ordinary stimulus is insufficient for the purpose. The 
rapidity with which this sinking process goes on 
depends upon personal power of retention and the age 



Memory in Education. 47 

of the individual, upon the degree in which the mind 
was affected by the idea at first, and upon the rate of 
disappearance of other ideas associated or linked with 
it in the process of apprehension. 

Some persons retain facts in a useful state much 
more easily than others ; a powerful or repeated 
stimulus fixes ideas much more strongly than a single 
or weak impression ; and the more firmly the ideas 
are connected, the less likely will be the disappear- 
ance of any individual of the group. What has once 
been distinctly and well learned is sure to leave some 
lasting effect ; even when the information seems to 
have disappeared, it can be relearned with compara- 
tively little trouble. With respect to the variation of 
memory with age, most authorities are agreed that 
the power to simply carry results unaided acts most 
strongly in childhood — probably from six to twelve 
or fifteen — practically while the brain, after attaining 
sufficient strength to bear a fair amount of strain, is 
completing its growth. This, too, is the age when 
good intellectual habits of all kinds are formed with 
greatest facility and success. We shall not be far 
wrong if we fix the maximum of the holding power 
of the memory at about the age of ten, and consider 
that after this it steadily but surely declines. This 
may in a measure be due to the great crush of ideas 
as they accumulate more and more ; the mind has to 
spread its action over so wide a range that it cannot 
give the same amount of energy to any one acquisi- 
tion. Anything then which is within the comprehen- 
sion of children, which we shall not be able to 
fix in a more useful way, and which we require to be 
well remembered, is best learned by a direct act of 
memory in childhood. 



48 The Work of Education. 

Arithmetical tables, definitions, the drill work of lan- 
guage, moral precepts, rules of all kinds, and beautiful 
passages of poetry or prose are among the things which 
may be usefully treated in this manner. A child, too, will 
grind away at such a mass of facts as the multiplication 
table, or a conjugation, with much less irksomeness than 
an adult who has lost his interest in mere exercise, and who 
naturally seeks aids to his work, but which are here difficult 
to find. 

With respect to storing the mind with passages of poetry 
or prose, only pieces of approved excellence should be 
committed to memory, and this within reasonable limits. 
The setting of any doggerel to be learned, so long as it is 
difficult, for the supposed purpose of training the memory, 
is a delusion no teacher should fall into. 

The use we make of memory must be intelligent, as far 
as age and power will allow. There is no justification for 
such a practice as learning a series of Latin rules in Latin 
before a word of the language is understood, or of setting 
to be learned by heart a special form of words, when it is 
the ideas only we wish remembered. We should bear in 
mind Dr. Carpenter's remark, that ' a merely verbal memory 
can scarcely be said to give us knowledge; it merely supplies 
us with symbols by which knowledge can be acquired.' 

We find in the physical universe that force is never 
really destroyed, what we usually refer to as destruc- 
tion being simply transformation. This is spoken of 
as the Conservation of Force. In a similar way in all 
probability no mental force can be annihilated. It is 
extremely doubtful whether the impression left upon 
the mind by a properly registered idea is ever quite 
lost. It is a startling reflection, that every immoral 
act or thought leaves a permanent record behind it, 
and that remembrance of it may revive to haunt us 
at some future time. 



Memory in Education. 49 

An idea may rapidly vanish so far from the con- 
sciousness as to become, to all intents and purposes, 
irrecoverable, but even then some unusual stimulus 
may bring it again vividly before us. Thus languages 
entirely forgotten for years have been completely 
recovered during the influence of disease or injury to 
the brain, and have vanished again when health was 
renewed. So also, it frequently happens that events 
of earliest childhood, which no power of will could 
ever have recalled, occur to the mind just previous 
to death. Even during health a sight or sound may 
so stir the mind that things may be remembered of 
which we had previously lost all recollection. 1 ' Every 
experience we have had,' says Ribot, 'lies dormant 
within us : the human soul is like a deep and sombre 
lake, of which light reveals only the surface ; beneath 
there lives a whole world of animals and plants, which 
a storm or an earthquake may suddenly bring to light 
before the astonished consciousness/ This, however, 
is very different from the ordinary use of memory, so 
that we properly speak of the retentive power as 
being, for all practical purposes, a distinctly limited 
quantity. Most of us have probably forgotten far 
more than we know, and if we have a memory which 
fastens upon facts very readily we should be specially 
on our guard, for a quick memory is often far from a 
retentive one. As a rule, ' lightly come, lightly go.' 

Putting individual endowment out of the question, 
and leaving association of impressions till we come to 
speak of reproduction, the power of retention is for 
the most part dependent upon the depth of impression 
made upon the mind. The conditions, then, which 
lead to this most desirable result, should be well 

1 See some remarkable cases given by Dr. Carpenter. 
K 



So The Work of Education. 

known to the educator. The most important of them 

are as follows : — 

1. Original force of the idea. — The more direct and 
powerful the stimulus is which affects the mind, the 
more lasting will be the result. When the stimulus 
is a fact presented to the senses, we should endeavor 
to secure that the particular sense implicated acts in 
as perfect a manner as may be. The actual phe- 
nomenon always leaves a much stronger impression 
than a mere description of it. 

Thus in 'object lessons,' the object itself should 
not only be shown where practicable, but each point 
mentioned should be observed ; and in teaching such 
a subject as science we should never rest content with 
mere words, whether of lectures or text-book, but give 
the knowledge as far as we can at first hand, that is, 
through the senses. Words are necessary and useful 
in the presentation of thoughts, but it is a mistake to 
employ them in place of things, when it is a knowl- 
edge of these we wish to convey, and when any 
sense-presentation is practically possible. A knowl- 
edge of objects and phenomena is a very different 
thing to a knowledge of what has been said of them. 

The acquirement of objective knowledge, properly made 
through the senses, will be distinct, real, and enduring. 
When impressions can be conveniently made through two 
sense organs, as the eye and the ear, both should be used. 
Thus, it is a- help to say aloud what we have to learn by 
heart, as well as to follow the words with the eye ; and a 
written summary on the blackboard is far better than having 
the points repeated by simultaneous utterance alone. We 
should be careful, too, that the mind deals with exactly that 
part of, it may be, a complex impression which we wish to 
fix ; that is, we should try to prevent diffusion over too wide 



Memory in Education. 5 l 

an area, and confusion with points which do not at the time 
concern us. Thus, in showing an object or performing an 
experiment, we should guide children's observation into 
one channel, by telling them exactly what it is to which we 
wish them to direct their attention. 

When the stimulus is a fact presented in words, it 
should be brought before the mind in a distinct and 
forcible manner. Hence, in communicating ideas in 
this way, the teacher should make use of any means 
at his disposal to secure vividness, in proportion to 
the value of the idea he wishes to fix. He should use 
simple and exact words; he should speak forcibly,. 
not loudly but impressively, and not too rapidly. He 
should present the idea in as fresh and novel a form 
as is compatible with other conditions, and he may 
frequently make use of the ' picturing out ' method 
with advantage. The element of surprise is also 
useful in giving permanence to an idea. 

In some cases a sense illustration of a similar idea may 
be given, as when we show melted resin will stick to a rod 
to make clear the condition of melted glass ; or the teacher 
may make use of pictorial representations, or diagrams, or 
maps, as the case may be. And, lastly, when other things 
fail, he will often find an oral illustration will afford con- 
siderable help. The consideration of these points will also 
lead us naturally to work with ideas of concrete things as an 
introduction to abstract notions, to give examples before 
principles, facts before laws, and so on. 

2. Attention. — That to which the attention is most 
strongly directed in the process of apprehension will, 
other things being equal, abide with greatest accuracy 
and certainty in the mind. Without attention memory 
is almost useless, and thus it is of the greatest im- 
portance, if we wish to secure the maximum of 



52 The Work of Education. 

retention, to see that the conditions in teaching are 
such as not only allow but promote concentration. 

We should endeavor to guard against all dis- 
tractions, both internal and external, mental and 
physical. A certain amount of comfort and freshness 
of body is essential to concentration. If children are 
placed in a glare of light, made to sit in a cramped 
position, kept too long in any one posture, not 
properly warmed, or allowed to work in a close 
stuffy atmosphere, the attention suffers, and the 
retentive power along with it. We must so affect the 
pupil that he will as it were be on the alert, and 
voluntarily come out to meet and welcome the ideas 
presented to him ; not simply remain passive, while 
we spread out our treasures before his mental gaze. 
But at the same time, this display must be made 
steadily, one thing at once. If we flit rapidly from 
one thing to another we shall only produce silent 
bewilderment, not attention. A great aid to an ac- 
tively recipient state of mind is sympathy between 
teacher and taught. Many a teacher, of only average 
ability in presenting facts makes up, by his power of 
attracting sympathy, for the lack of brilliancy in his 
exposition. The cultivation of the attention into an 
intellectual habit is one of the best ways of training 
the memory. 

3. Interest. — Though this acts mainly through 
attention, the separate consideration of a few points 
concerning it will not be out of place here. We 
gradually develop the power of remembering those 
things most easily which are to us of the greatest 
interest and importance. Thus, the particular bent 
of the mind, our tastes, studies, and occupations, all 
influence the growth of memory in no small degree ; 



Memory in Education. 53 

and in the end render its action much more powerful 
in some directions than in others. 

Thus the artist remembers scenes or faces, the 
musician tunes and harmonies, the lawyer cases, the 
linguist and philologist languages, the librarian books, 
and so on; while the memory for other things may 
be of quite common or even defective quality. 'The 
mathematician,' says Tate, ' readily remembers his 
theorems and formulas, while he forgets even the 
name of the existing prime minister.' As the ordin- 
ary business of the teacher is general culture, and not 
special training, and as he is usually concerned with 
the development of young minds, it is his duty to 
secure the all round exercise of memory. This gives 
the same groundwork for special memory that a solid 
general education affords for special studies. We 
have to remember many things very uninteresting in 
themselves, and it would be a great mistake to allow 
the mind, at first, to spend its strength almost exclu- 
sively on the one class of ideas which are attractive to 
it. Rather, we should direct the exercise of memory 
more particularly into other channels, patiently con- 
trolling its action, and endeavoring, by the attrac- 
tiveness of our manner and method, to make up, as 
far as we can, for the want of interest in the facts 
themselves. 

Much may be done in this way. We all know the dif- 
ference between good story-telling and bad. Vivacity in 
the teacher, an inviting form of work, well used illustrations, 
and skilful questioning, are all sources of interest ; and 
serve as auxiliaries to retention. Children are alwa)'s 
delighted with pictures, whether printed or rapid sketches 
on the black-board, or even vivid delineation in words. 
The work will be rendered easier, also, by fostering the 



54 The Work of Education. 

natural curiosity of children in many different directions. 
* Curiosity/ says Archbishop Whately, 'is as much the 
parent of attention as attention is of memory ; therefore the 
first business of the teacher — first, not only in point of time, 
but of importance — should be to excite, not merely a 
general curiosity on the subject of study, but a particular 
curiosity on particular points in that subject. To teach 
one who has no curiosity to learn, is to sow a field without 
ploughing it.' * Consciousness of progress, again, gives 
interest in the work ; children like to feel they are making 
headway, and work with increased zeal when this is the case. 

4. Repetition. — It has been stated that every im- 
pression made upon the mind leaves a trace or re- 
siduum behind it, and that this it is which renders 
the revival of the idea possible. We should naturally 
expect then, that each succeeding repetition would 
deepen the effect, until it would at last become 
sufficiently great to render the idea indelible. This 
is the case. We are thus led to makeup by iteration 
for want of strength in the impression, and we see 
also, that the need of repetition is in inverse propor- 
tion to the force with which the particular idea acts 
upon the mind. ' Repetition is the father and mother 
of memory,' writes Comenius ; one of Jacotot's fa- 
vorite maxims was, ' Repeat without ceasing' ; and 
almost every writer on memory has dwelt upon the 
advantages of this method of fixing ideas. The want, 
however, of any discrimination in its use has fre- 
quently led to its wrong employment. 

When the special form of the idea we wish to fix is im- 
portant, it is necessary to repeat it in the same words ; and 
that which often makes this a long and laborious process is, 
in the main, want of attention. The words are said over and 
over again in a purely mechanical way, while the mind, it 
1 See Annotations on Bacon's Essays. 



Memory in Education. 55 

may be. is thinking of quite other things. If we fix the 
attention on what we are doing, we shall find the process 
much shortened ; and where repetition does not produce the 
required effect, we may be pretty sure there is something 
wrong. Where the idea alone is the important thing, it is 
better to vary the form of the repetition, so as to give in- 
terest to the work and fulness to the idea itself. This mode 
of repetition is of frequent service in teaching, but to make 
it yield the maximum of usefulness, the teacher must be on 
the watch against wearying his pupils, and against waste of 
energy. ' When a thing is clear, let him never try to make 
it clearer ; when a thing is understood, not a word more of 
exemplification should be added. To mark precisely the 
moment when the pupil understands what is said, the 
moment when he is master of the necessary ideas, and, 
consequently, the moment when repetition should cease, is 
perhaps the most difficult thing in the art of teaching. The 
countenance, the eye, the voice, and manner of the pupil 
mark this instant to an observing preceptor.' 1 

To employ mere reiteration of words, where a 
more intelligent method of repetition is available, is 
one of the commonest defects of teaching; it not 
only leads to a want of grasp and understanding, but 
tends to make the pupil over-estimate the extent of 
his acquirements. Questioning forms a valuable 
means of securing the repetition of facts in actual 
teaching; it takes off the sameness of the work, and 
distributes it between teacher and pupil. Writing, 
again — - whether in making analyses, digests, well- 
arranged and suggestive notes of reading or observa- 
tion, or even in some cases when it is nothing more 
than simple transcription — may similarly be made 
of considerable service. It necessitates the retention 
of the idea so long before the consciousness, that the 

1 Edgeworth's Practical Education. 



56 The Work of Education. 

mind has plenty of time to get firm hold of it and 
blend the image formed with that of any previous 
impression of the same thing. The extension of 
repetition into review will be noticed under Repro- 
duction. 

5. Force of attendant emotion. — We remember with 
ease and certainty anything of a very pleasurable or 
very painful character, the sharpness and suddenness 
of which adds much to the effect. We do not need 
to burn our fingers twice to make us remember the 
action of fire, and it is on this principle that boys 
were once flogged at parish boundaries. As elsewhere 
noted, the employment of emotion, however, needs 
the greatest care and judgment; and we shall do well 
to bear in mind in this connection that all violence of 
emotion is liable to lead to harmful effects in other 
directions. The association of a moderate emotional 
stimulus of a proper kind with an idea certainly 
aids its retention. A cheerful, encouraging, earnest 
teacher soon arouses a pleasurable enthusiasm in the 
minds of his pupils, which promotes exertion and is 
a great help to memory. But besides the emotion 
induced by the teacher there is a pleasure arising from 
the work itself. Children are naturally full of vivacity,, 
and like to be actively employed. When properly 
managed they warm to their work, the mind gets a 
glow of excitement, every difficulty conquered gives 
an impetus to the attack of the next, all their energies 
are centred in what they are about, and they come to 
the end of the lesson with regret. Who does not re- 
member such lessons in his experiences as a child, 
and recognize how firmly many of the ideas still remain 
fixed in his mind ? Any method, then, which prevents 
children from taking an active share in the work is so 



Memory in Education. 57 

far faulty ; it deliberately casts aside a powerful 
auxiliary. This is another reason why continuous 
lecturing to children is bad. 

With respect to painful emotion, we shall not be far 
wrong if we consider that it can never be usefully employed 
by the educator as an aid to memory. Punishment, even 
for neglect in mastering a required task, needs the most 
judicious management ; or we may so disgust a child with 
learning as to seriously injure his future prospects, and in 
such a case we are discounting futurity with a vengeance. 
Threatening, sarcasm, and violent language are all wrong 
when applied to children. To terrify or frighten a child is 
not only cruel, it is harmful and useless in teaching. It 
puts him into such a nervous, tremulous state, that concen- 
tration is almost impossible, and memory suffers in propor- 
tion. A morose, irritable, or passionate teacher may do an 
immense amount of mischief. A touching anecdote may 
occasionally be useful, the pain here being more than coun- 
terbalanced by the pleasure of having the feelings gently 
stirred, but even this device needs using with discretion. 

6. State of the health. — It is a well-known fact that 
nervous depression exerts a marked deteriorating in- 
fluence upon the power of memory, while buoyancy 
of spirits acts in the opposite direction. Two out 
of the three conditions of good memory given by 
Coleridge, 1 are a healthy digestion and a quiet con- 
science ; the third being sound logic. Acquisitions 
made when the body is weakened by disease, or by 
continued overwork, rarely last long in the mind. 
Fatigue acts in the same way. 

A case quoted by Dr. Carpenter well illustrates the 
latter. Sir Henry Holland, having descended two very 
deep mines in the Hartz Mountains, on the same day, and 
remained several hours in each, found himself at length so 

1 See Biographia Literaria. 



58 The Work of Education. 

exhausted, that he forgot every word of his German, and 
could no longer carry on any conversation with his con- 
ductor. Rest and refreshment, however, brought it all back 
to him. Many persons have probably felt, after carefully 
examining the pictures in a large gallery for several hours, 
how difficult it sometimes is to recall the name even of a 
well-known painter. 

A tired child cannot be expected to give useful 
attention, and therefore will remember badly or not 
at all ; and the teacher who would succeed in his 
work, must be ever on the watch for any symptoms 
of weariness which may show themselves. The im- 
portance of thorough ventilation of the room can 
scarcely be urged too strongly in this connection. 
Rest in many cases does not necessitate quiet, or 
even complete change of work ; it is often sufficient 
to secure freshness and variety in the treatment of 
the subject ; sameness and dulness are great inducers 
of fatigue. The process of storing ideas in the mem- 
ory probably uses up more brain energy than any 
other phase of the mind's action, and should have the 
best part of the day assigned to it ; yet how frequently 
do we find this violated in the arrangement of school 
work. Everything then which tends to strengthen or 
husband the nervous force is so far an aid to reten- 
tion. * Memory at large,' says a writer in ' Chambers' 
Encyclopaedia,' 'can be improved only by increasing 
the vigor and freshness of the nervous system, and 
by avoiding all occasions o*f exhaustion, undue excite- 
ment, and other causes of nervous waste.' Lassitude 
and low spirits frequently result from want of exer- 
cise ; to work without giving proper recreation both 
to body and mind is false economy, and of all men the 
teacher should be one of the first to recognize this. 



Memory in Education. 59 



c. Reproduction. 

By the reproductive power of memory is meant 
the faculty of finding and bringing to light impressions 
previously fixed in the mind ; the power of recovering 
latent ideas just as they are wanted ; of fetching up 
from the mental stores any fact which we have pre- 
viously taken in, and which we need for present use. 
Reproduction may be called the showman of memory. 
The ideas which are held by the memory exist as it 
were in unstable equilibrium ; a very slight circum- 
stance may give the impetus which topples this or 
that idea into the consciousness. What we need is 
to know the conditions which thus affect the re- 
productive power, and to get them well under the 
control of the will. If we knowingly or unknowingly 
surrender this control, and allow the ideas to tumble 
into the mind just as they may chance, we sink into 
a state of reverie, or a condition closely analogous to 
it. In such a case ideas flit through the mind but 
leave scarcely any impression. Many children are 
prone to this day-dreaming, and it is the teacher's 
business to prevent it by supplying the proper stim- 
ulus, and by suggesting the direction in which the 
reproductive power is required to act. 

Inasmuch as reproduction depends upon appre- 
hension and retention, all the points previously dealt 
with affect the recollection of ideas in a greater or 
less degree. Two points, however, specially call for 
consideration here, as they are more directly perhaps 
concerned with the reproductive power than the 
others, and form the principal conditions of its most 
satisfactory action. These are (1) the association of 



60 The Work of Education. 

ideas ; and (2) practice in reproduction, more particu- 
larly in connection with the review of previous ac- 
quisitions. The strength of the connection between 
the will and the intellect, that is, the force of control 
which the former exercises over the latter, is also an 
important determining factor of the reproductive 
power, but this will be incidentally referred to in 
dealing with other points. 

I. Association. — No act of mind is, properly 
speaking, isolated ; each idea, as it comes before us, 
reaches one hand back into the past and the other 
forward into the future. If it succeeds in uniting it- 
self with a companion so firmly that the connection 
is recognized by the mind, the two ideas will hence- 
forth have a tendency to cohere, and when the union 
has been cemented one will .lead naturally to the re- 
production of the other. We may have a long series 
of ideas thus conjoined. This tendency of ideas and 
sensations to link themselves together, so that they 
summon up one another, is usually spoken of as as- 
sociation, though Dr. Brown and some others prefer 
the term simple suggestion. 

When an idea, then, is properly apprehended, it 
associates itself with its similars, its neighbors, its 
contrasts, or its dependents, as the case may be, until 
it becomes fixed in the mind as one of a group ; the 
reproduction of any individual of which leads to the 
other ideas of the series being evoked in succession. 
'The fundamental law of association,' says Ribot, 
'consists in this, that when two things have been 
frequently found together, one recalls the other.' If 
the mental connection between the two ideas is com- 
plete, the reproduction of the second is spontaneous ; 
if incomplete, but the mind can with some little 



Memory in Education. 6l 

trouble discover the connection and so bridge over 
the gap, the falling of the second idea into conscious- 
ness is volitionally induced. Thus the reproductive 
power of memory depends largely on the strength of 
the relations on either or both sides of an idea. 

When we try to recollect something we put in 
motion the associative machinery ; we run over in 
our minds a number of ideas in succession, in the 
hope that one or another is connected with the idea 
we want, and will suggest it. It sometimes happens 
that we do not find what we want, as a name or a 
date, and we pass on to other things ; but the mind 
seems in many such cases to go on working without 
our being conscious of its action, and when it has 
laid hold of the desiderated idea it thrusts it forward 
in the midst of other matters. The fact seems to 
jump into the consciousness out of all connection 
with what we are thinking of at the time. 

It is often very curious to trace back our thoughts and 
see how one idea has led to another. In some cases we 
shall find that the intermediate steps have been dropped 
out as soon as used, and only the first and the last members 
of the series are remembered. Hobbes gives a striking 
case, where, in the midst of a conversation on the civil war, 
a person abruptly asked what was the value of a Roman 
denarius. The succession, when made out, seemed to be 
this : the war had suggested the king, this had led to the 
treachery of those who had surrendered him, this to Judas 
Iscariot, this to the sum of money he received as reward, 
and this to the denarius. 

Association is not confined to ideas. We may 
have movements linked with movements, so that one 
brings on the next as in pianoforte playing ; or ideas 
with movements, as when the idea of yawning initiates 



62 The Work of Education. 

the act ; or ideas with sensations, as when a Roman 
turned the stone of his ring towards the palm of his 
hand as a reminder, or when the vivid reproduction of 
a past impression induces a feeling of sickness or faint- 
ness. Ideas again may be associated with emotions, 
as when the thought of some loved one passed away 
renews our grief, or the remembrance of past scenes 
brings with it a revival, in part at least, of the pleas- 
ure we experienced at the time. 

The usefulness of our acquisitions does not depend 
so much upon the number of them, as upon the 
thoroughness of their association, so that one may 
naturally suggest all correlated facts the mind is 
acquainted with, and so give us the power of using 
all we know in connection with a special point. A 
small number of ideas properly stowed away is often 
of far more use to the possessor than large stores of 
information accumulated by mere aggregation without 
order or arrangement. It is astonishing how much 
men vary in the power of using what they possess. 
The faculty of readily turning to account what has 
been acquired — the power of making the information 
perform the largest amount of service in any required 
connection — is one which the teacher should aim at 
cultivating in his pupils wherever opportunity offers ; 
and an important aid to doing this is to train them to 
note carefully the relationship of things. He must 
bear in mind, however, that the same associations do 
not strike everybody ; to one an illustration is useless 
which to another makes all clear, one sees a connec- 
tion instantly which another fails to appreciate even 
when pointed out ; so that he must be prepared to 
supply a second or a third link if the first fails to 
perform the office intended. A person with many 



Memory in Education. 6$ 

ideas stored in his mind naturally forms associations 
with much greater ease, other things being equal, 
than one who has few. No two individuals will have 
at command the same facts, or view things in the 
same way, and hence the same thought may give rise 
in different people to entirely different trains of ideas. 
The amount of information possessed by a child is 
very limited, and his power of readily forming as- 
sociations will be limited in like proportion. The 
teacher should render, therefore, all the assistance he 
can, and bear in mind that every acquisition is not 
only valuable in itself, but also because it affords a 
point of attachment for future facts. 

Where association is properly employed it saves 
the mind the strain of making a large number of 
independent efforts. The importance of putting 
away facts in an orderly and connected fashion should 
never be lost sight of, especially by those who have 
care of the young ; but it is to be feared that the 
frequent talking about chains of ideas sometimes 
leads us to forget that which lies beneath the words, 
and that our practice would in many cases seem to 
imply that all we mean by a chain is a number of 
links placed side by side. The connection is the vital 
point. 

The principle of association has in recent times 
been employed to account for so extensive a series of 
mental operations, and is found to be so far-reaching 
in its consequences, that it has been made the foun- 
dation upon which modern psychology is based. 
Writers of the present day are pretty well agreed to 
bring all kinds of association under the dominion of 
two great principles, which are thus given by Pro- 
fessor Bain. 



64 The Work of Education. 

A. The Law of Coittiguity. — ' Actions, sensations, 
states of feeling, and ideas occurring together, or in 
close connection, tend to grow together or cohere in 
such a way that when any one of them is afterwards 
presented to the mind the others are apt to rise.' 

B. Law of Similarity. — ' Present actions, sensa- 
tions, thoughts, and emotions tend to revive their like 
among previous impressions.' 

No doubt all association phenomena may be ulti- 
mately reduced to these two forms ; but it will be 
much more useful as a practical help to the teacher 
to keep in mind the following varieties, or branch 
statements, of these fundamental principles. Facts 
suggest one another by the action of association when 
they are united in the mind by — 

1. Immediate succession in time. 

2. Immediate succession in space. 

3. Cause and effect. 

4. Contrast. 

5. Direct similarity. 

6. Natural affinity. 

7. Logical affinity. 

The first four belong to the principle of Contiguity, 
the remaining ones to the broad law of Similarity. 
We shall briefly consider each of these in succession. 

1. Immediate succession or juxtaposition in time. — 

The mere fact that one idea has immediately succeeded 
another naturally leads the mind to contemplate the 
two in connection. The things may have no real 
relationship, and yet may be closely associated to- 
gether in this way. The fact of their having occurred 
to us one directly after the other may have been the 
result of intention, or the effect of accident ; but, in 



Memory in Education. 65 

any case, the tendency is for them to conjoin, and so 
suggest one another. 

Thus a snatch of melody may recall to our minds 
the storm of applause which followed the singing of 
it the last time we heard it given, or the recollection 
of a sentence in a speech may perhaps suggest to us 
the peculiar argument which followed ; or again, the 
remembrance of a particular scene may recall the acci- 
dent which happened directly after we had enjoyed 
the view. In learning the multiplication table the 
items are usually gone over and over again, in an in- 
variable order, and we see how helpful this is, when 
a young child, who is unable to give when challenged 
a particular product, recollects it quite accurately 
when allowed to start from the beginning, and say up 
to that point. Many persons who possess astonish- 
ing power of memorizing words fail to recover any 
individual word or sentence, unless they start from 
the commencement of a series. We all have fre- 
quently to 'try back' in this way, in order to get the 
impetus which carries us over the difficulty. 

Order in time may frequently have acted in connection 
with order in space. Thus, we have not only said the 
alphabet a great many times in a certain succession, but 
have seen the letters actually arranged side by side in this 
way, the frequency of both, acting conjointly, producing a 
certainty of reproduction which has become mechanical. 
So, in learning a piece of poetry or prose, we are aided, not 
only by the words and ideas having frequently followed in 
the same succession of time, but by our having contemplated 
them in the same order of space. 

The principle of succession acts strongly, and is a 
great assistance in childhood. 'The order of time/ 
says Maria Edgeworth, *. is the first and easiest prin- 

F 



66 The Work of Education. 

ciple of association to help the memory.' In many 
cases it does not do to stop when reproduction by 
this means is secured, still it is a distinct aid as far 
as it goes. Where there is a clear relation between 
the facts, we need to pass on to some higher form of 
association. Stopping short of this often leads to the 
giving of mere instruction, without the training which 
should accompany it. It behooves the teacher then to 
look well to the order of his lessons, and as facts are 
likely to be remembered as they are arranged in pre- 
sentation, to see that as far as practicable one fact 
leads naturally to the next ; and that those points of 
a series are oftenest made to follow each other, which 
we wish to be remembered in connection. 

2. Immediate succession, or coadjacency, in space. — 
Ideas of things which have been brought before the 
mind side by side have a tendency to rise together 
when acted upon by memory ; the mere proximity of 
one object to another, at the time of apprehension, 
forming a link of suggestion between them. 

Thus the sight of a fossil in a drawer may call up 
a vivid recollection of the locality where it was found, 
or of the person who was with us at the time, or of 
the feeling of pleasure which accompanied the dis- 
covery. The remembrance of the position on the 
page of a book where a passage occurs will often re- 
call the passage itself ; or a sentence from a drama 
may bring to mind the peculiarities of the actor we 
last heard declaim the passage. 

We may associate in this way a great variety of ideas of 
persons, places, events, emotions, and so on. Sometimes the 
mind fastens upon a number of circumstances surrounding, 
or attendant upon, a certain object or event ; and when 
the central idea occurs to the memory, the accompanying 



Memory in Education. 67 

details come back in all their completeness. Perhaps the 
most remarkable illustration of this ever penned, is Dame* 
Quickly's speech to Falstaff, in Henry IV., Part ii., Act ii., 
Scene i., beginning, ' Marry, if thou wert an honest man, &c.' 

In many cases the part will suggest the whole, 
and where some easy artificial means of remembering 
the part exists, the whole may readily be recovered. 
It is this which enables us to aid the memory by 
means of initial letters. Thus the seven colors of 
the prismatic spectrum may be remembered in order 
with the greatest ease, by connecting the initial letters 
of the colors to form the combination ROYGBIV. Al- 
phabetic arrangement has been mentioned, and so any 
unchanging sequence may be made useful, whether in 
time or place. The association of the principal points 
in a subject with numbers is often of assistance to the 
lecturer or the student. One of the oldest devices 
of artificial memory is to associate a series of facts or 
heads with a series of well-known rooms, so that the 
two may fix themselves in the mind together, and one 
suggest the other. Abercrombie mentions this as 
having given rise to our common mode of speaking 
of the various parts of a discourse as in the first place, 
in the second place, and so on. So long as we do not 
neglect real and important relations of things for these 
artificial or accidental ones, there can be no harm in 
their employment, where facts have to be memorized. 

A large number of so-called mnemonic systems 
depend upon associations of contiguity. To be of 
any use such schemes must provide a means of associ- 
ation where none naturally exists, or substitute an 
easier form for one more difficult. In the latter case 
they very frequently do this at the cost of intelligence, 
substituting mere artificial associations for the natural 



68 The Work of Education. 

relationships of things, which need to be mastered 
before the things can be properly said to be known. 
In some cases these mnemonic devices are so elaborate 
that it would cost little extra trouble to learn the 
things required in a much better way ; and in others, 
are so nonsensical that they draw off the attention 
from the matters to be remembered to the fun or fool- 
ishness of the machinery. The modern spirit of bur- 
lesque grows quite rapidly enough without aiding its 
formation in children by travestying knowledge, and 
destroying its dignity and sobriety. Where no help- 
ful natural association can be formed, as in the case of 
such things as dates, an artificial aid of the mnemonic 
kind, if simple in application, free from absurdity, and 
leading to ready remembrance, may often be useful ; 
but the teacher need concern himself very little about 
such matters. 

The power of suggestion, arising from previous 
associations of place, lies at the root of X\\2X faculty of 
localisation which is frequently of such great assistance 
to us. As our acquisitions extend, and the number 
of them we need to hold at command for special pur- 
poses grows very large, it is almost an impossibility 
to retain them all in the memory, and the habit of 
fixing in the mind the places of knowledge, so that we 
can at once lay hands on any needed information, 
becomes invaluable. 

When we have well secured a select and extensive stock 
in trade, any special article of occasional use is best 
procured as wanted. To keep everything by us would prove 
a burden, not a help. The thing aimed at by the student 
after he has amassed his working stores is to have the power 
of using a very wide range of knowledge, and yet to keep 
his mind as free as possible for action. Now that books are 



Memory in Education. 69 

cheap, and libraries numerous, it is a mistake to load the 
memory with a great number of things which we require only 
now and again. We need rather to be well acquainted with 
the places and contents of stores \ and this the index form 
of memory supplies. The power of fixing the localities of 
information grows rapidly, and its value should always be 
kept in mind by the teacher. Wherever he finds he can 
aid the formation of a habit of associating a thing with its 
place, or of noting the position of anything learned from a 
book, so that it may be found at once when wanted, he 
should do his best, while securing the learning of necessary 
information, to foster the strength of this habit and extend 
its operation. 

3. Cause and effect — means and end. — Worn rocks on 
the coast suggest the corroding action of the waves ; 
the strewn wreck on the shore leads the mind to the 
late tempest ; the pain in an injured joint carries us 
back to the accident which caused it ; the presence of 
' fire damp ' in a mine at once directs the miner to 
the chance of an explosion, and prompts him to make 
the best of his means for preventing it ; or the speed 
of a railway train may lead us to think of the power 
of the engine, or the terrible accident which would 
follow any sudden check. The natural relationship 
which links ideas in this way renders them eminently 
suggestive of one another ; and where the connection 
exists, to fix it clearly in the mind is one of the most 
powerful and useful means of association at our dis- 
posal. It is especially valuable in lessons from the 
physical or natural sciences ; and should be much 
more generally employed in the teaching of such 
subjects as history, than it appears to be. 

We should train children by easy stages to recog- 
nize a cause, and to trace its action in producing the 



*jo The Work of Education. 

effect ; or, having given an effect, to seek in a back- 
ward direction for its cause. Children are naturally 
of an inquiring turn of mind, and by fostering this 
tendency, encouraging them to ask questions, and 
patiently answering them as far as we can, or as far 
as is suitable to their age, we are not only interesting 
them in knowledge, but laying the foundation of a 
valuable intellectual habit. Much of the teaching of 
little ones is necessarily dogmatic, but not to so great 
an extent as our practice would frequently indicate, It 
is a mistake to dogmatize when the young mind can 
readily grasp with a little trouble on our part the ex- 
planation which will make the work real. We may 
also in many cases perform a useful service, by not 
contenting ourselves with simply telling children they 
are wrong, but patiently leading them to see the 
cause of their error. Of course here, as in every part 
of his work, the teacher will need to use his common 
sense. 

4. Contrast. — We speak of two objects as contrast- 
ing with one another when the first is in certain par- 
ticulars strongly unlike the second, when the number 
and strength of their differences greatly exceed their 
points of resemblance. Now it is found that when 
two things affect the mind first and most forcibly 
through their dissimilarities, the idea of one has a 
strong tendency to bring up that of the other. In 
order that the mind may be led to contemplate two 
things in connection, so as to note their contrast, and 
so form the link of association we are considering, 
they must also have some points of similarity. Things 
which we cannot compare cannot properly be con- 
trasted. 

Thus a very tall man may suggest a very short 



Memory in Education. 71 

one we have seen in his company ; the difficulty with 
which platinum fuses may recall the ease with which 
we can melt lead ; walking in a cold biting wind or a 
snowstorm makes us enjoy by anticipation the rest 
by the cosy fireside ; the consideration of mountain 
ranges may lead us on naturally to think of the depth 
of the sea ; or the training we receive from language 
may direct our thoughts to the very dissimilar culture 
we obtain from experimental science ; but we do not 
contrast a landscape with a sound, or light with a 
metal, because here the things are different, in all 
respects. Properly speaking, it will be found that we 
contrast qualities, not objects. 

We have spoken of association by contrast as 
though it were a law of extremes ; as a matter of fact, 
however, all carefully noted differences in comparable 
things tend to associate themselves in this way ; only 
that the power of the one object to revive the other, 
by the association here spoken of, will vary in propor- 
tion to the strength of their differences ; and so weak 
contrasts are of little help to the reproductive power 
Lessons of contrast, whether between objects, per- 
sons, or events, &c, are of much value. They not 
only give the contrasted facts a better chance of being 
remembered, but they bring out each point into clear 
light, and give a distinct training in that discrimina- 
tion of differences, which is so conducive to accuracy, 
and which forms the foundation of so large a propor- 
tion of our knowledge. 

5. Direct similarity or analogy. — Ideas between 
which there exists a strong resemblance or analogy 
naturally focus themselves to the same point in the 
mind ; and this natural tendency for like to seek out 
and resuscitate like is a great aid to reproduction. ' T! 



7 2 The Work of Education. 

is a fact of our constitution,' says the writer in ' Cham- 
bers' Encyclopaedia,' previously quoted, 'that in cases 
where something now before the mind has a strong- 
cast of resemblance to something formerly observed 
or conceived by us, but not at the present thought of 
in any way, the present is apt to recall that past idea, 
whatever it may be.' The face of a man in the street 
may revive that of an absent friend whom he resem- 
bles ; or in climbing a mountain a certain state of the 
atmosphere may at once remind us that on a previous 
occasion exactly the same condition existed when the 
surroundings were quite different. It is the repro- 
duction of a past idea which we recognize as exactly 
resembling the present impression which leads to 
identification. It is the suggestive power of similarity 
also which gives the comparative method its great 
value in teaching, and which makes classification so 
exceedingly useful. Through this principle too we 
are enabled to arrive inductively at the law which un- 
derlies a large group of phenomena ; and it is by the 
recognition of the common element in a series of pro- 
positions that deductive reasoning is rendered possi- 
ble. We must therefore in our teaching bring out into 
clear light the points of resemblance in things we are 
examining, as well as their points of contrast ; and so 
present our facts that the likeness of some simpler or 
better known idea to the one we wish to fix flashes 
readily across the mind. When this takes place, the 
recognition of the common element which links old and 
new, easier and more difficult, at once becomes an aid 
not only to understanding, but to future remembrance. 
Children seem to take much pleasure in analogies 
when pointed out, as well as in discovering them for 
themselves ; the latter of course is to be preferred 



Memory in Education. 73 

when it can be managed without waste of time. Many 
objects are best treated in pairs, two being placed side 
by side ; and all points of comparison and contrast, 
which the children can recognize, elicited from them 
by questions. This is an aid not only to memory, 
but to that habit of searching into things which we 
can scarcely carry too far. Teaching by comparison, 
however, needs care, for unless the things compared 
are kept quite distinct, at the same time that they are 
examined side by side, it may, and often does in the 
hands of an unskilful teacher, lead to much confusion. 

Association by similarity is a particularly valuable 
mode for the teacher to accustom himself to; it forms 
the foundation of all power of using illustrations; it 
stores his mind with a number of ready-made instances ; 
and gives that readiness of resource — that aptitude 
for recognizing and making use of resemblances on the 
instant — which is so important a factor in all good 
teaching. The faculty of detecting analogies grows 
very rapidly in most cases with exercise, more espe 
cially in finding any particular kind of resemblance to 
which the mind is habitually directed. 

6. Natural affinity. — When two ideas associate 
themselves by means of some natural relationship or 
affinity which exists between them, one conduces to 
the revival of the other ; and if the association is 
strong, or has been often repeated, the reproduction 
together is almost certain to take place. A monu- 
ment at once brings to mind the dead hero ; a battle- 
field arouses a great number of associated facts in this 
way ; a certain house recalls the person who lived 
there ; and a song or a rhyme may bring up a whole 
train of recollections of childhood. So national melo- 
dies associated with the home life, when heard in a 



74 The Work of Education. 

foreign land, may bring to remembrance home scenes 
and affections with such intensity, as to induce a posi- 
tive disease of homesickness — nostalgia. The Swiss 
and the Scotch are especially liable to be moved by 
associations of this kind, and hence when Scotch 
regiments are on foreign service certain tunes, it is 
said, are prohibited. It is by the association of natural 
arBnity that thoughts suggest speech in the case of 
people who are given to talk to themselves. 

The teacher will find very numerous opportunities 
of making use of the kind of association we are con- 
sidering. The memory will be largely helped by the 
arrangement of ideas in such a way, that any actual 
affinity which can be traced between them will be 
certain to receive attention. This is one reason why 
sequence and connection are so important in teaching. 
In geography the outline of a country may be usefully 
associated with the distribution of its great land- 
masses, the direction of the mountain chains with 
the form of the river-valleys, manufactories with the 
physical conditions exactly suited to their being carried 
on. Geography and history again will afford much 
aid to each other if taught in connection. So with 
natural history lessons, if the characteristic structure 
of certain animals is shown to be exactly suited to 
their habits and mode of life, both groups of facts will 
be better understood and remembered. 

The effect of the discipline of natural consequences, 
also, will depend in no small degree upon the way in 
which the link between the act and the result is made 
clear to the intelligence. The formation too of proper 
natural associations is a powerful instrument in the 
formation of good taste, and the habit of referring facts 
back through the action of affinity to correct standards, 



Memory in Education. 75 

previously fixed in the mind, has an important influ- 
ence in this and other directions. Unpleasant, frivo- 
lous, distorted or false associations are all mischievous 
in teaching, the latter being perhaps most frequently 
found in the drawing of morals from lessons. 

7. Logical affinity or dependence. — Rational associ- 
ations formed through the logical dependence of one 
fact upon another is a most effective aid to reproduc- 
tion wherever it exists. Physical laws should be care- 
fully connected with the facts from which they are 
drawn. The power of the former to carry the under- 
standing of the latter one stage deeper, and to connect 
them in series, should be pointed out. 

The strongest illustration perhaps of this logical 
linking of ideas is afforded by geometry. A proposi- 
tion of Euclid is a difficult and useless exercise if got 
'by heart,' but if properly understood is not likely to 
be forgotten, at least if the general method of proof 
is borne in mind. It is important then in teaching, 
wherever reasoning is employed, to state every step 
with the greatest lucidity and in proper order, and 
further, to fix the attention upon the larger divisions 
of the argument, both with respect to their contents 
and grouping. 

II. Practice in Reproduction. — Every time 
we reproduce an idea, the expenditure of mental force 
necessary to do this grows less and less, while the ease 
with which we accomplish it becomes correspondingly 
greater. Thus practice in reproduction has a power- 
ful influence on the readiness with which we bring up 
past ideas. As, in the case of the body, an action 
regularly repeated at last comes to be performed 
automatically, and passes into a habit ; so in the case 
of the mind, we may acquire such facility in repro- 



j6 The Work of Education. 

ducing certain information, that we do not feel the 
effort made or the working of the machinery. The 
mind seems to move without friction, or any kind of 
trouble on our part ; we seem no sooner to recognize 
the want of a particular fact than it starts up into 
consciousness, and draws with it by association, all 
related facts. This phase of almost perfect recollec- 
tion has been called the organic memory, its materials 
being in most cases facts which have become thor- 
oughly assimilated by the mind. 

The unconscious reproduction of ideas, simply 
through the mechanism of suggestion, is well illus- 
trated in the case of pianoforte playing. The perform- 
ance of a difficult piece of music may be gone through 
quite correctly, while the conscious mind is engaged 
in thinking of quite other things, or carrying on a 
conversation with a friend. 

It is the strengthening of the reproductive power 
by practice, which enables us to remember with such 
certainty and completeness facts we have frequently 
to make use of, and which gives such great value to 
review courses. Few teachers seem to take the trouble 
to estimate the enormous amount of information 
which is lost for the want of being occasionally brought 
to light. 

We often speak of such and such a subject, we 
have learned, as being rusty, and the figure is not 
an inapt one ; but we do not often consider what a very 
small amount of time and attention, properly applied, 
would have prevented its becoming so. It is a serious 
mistake to lose what has perhaps cost us a very large 
expenditure of strength to acquire, merely because 
we cannot just at present turn it to account. A little 
occasional labor will keep up that, which it would be 



Memory in Education. JJ 

a long and laborious task to relearn when quite for- 
gotten, even taking into account the greater ease with 
which we should learn it a second time than we did 
at first. The temptation is very strong to give no 
heed to what we do not at present want, and we 
should therefore be on our guard against it. Much may 
be allowed to go, it has perhaps served its turn, and 
the loss may never be felt to any important extent, 
but there are many things we cannot be always 
using, which it would be the greatest folly to let 
slip. 

The longer we leave knowledge unused, the more 
overgrown does the path outward become, until at 
last the ideas are unable to struggle through. An 
occasional use of such information would have pre- 
vented it passing beyond our power of recall. It is 
very probable that many of our keenest recollections 
of childhood have been kept fresh, by having been 
suggested to the mind at certain intervals during the 
time which has elapsed, and that this bringing up to 
consciousness has given the necessary strengthening 
of the impression, before it had begun to fade. 

The important thing is to seize just the moment 
when the idea is on the point of becoming dim and 
difficult to find. The reproduction just when this is 
about to take place accustoms the mind to retain 
knowledge for as long a period as it is conveniently 
able to do, and prevents any expenditure of time and 
trouble which is not necessary ; but in practice it is often 
exceedingly difficult to recognize exactly the point 
when this is required. The period will often vary very 
considerably for facts learnt at the same time. It is al- 
ways better to be well on the safe side. In some cases 
the period of revival is a matter of days, in others of 



yS The Work of Education. 

months, in others of years. The length of time which 
may elapse seems to grow with each reproduction, and 
we can usually form at least an approximate judgment 
when certain ideas are beginning to slip away from us. 
In most cases the student will find the great benefit 
of having fixed times of review for things he wishes to 
retain. He need not give the same attention to all 
the facts he refreshes his mind about ; he will soon 
learn what he may safely hasten over, and to what he 
must give careful heed. The value of this systematic 
running over of past work at stated intervals can 
scarcely be over-estimated. In making use of review 
it is as well, when certain facts have been fully appre- 
hended and associated in a particular way, for the 
student to keep to the same order to which he has been 
accustomed. This renders the recollection of them 
surer, and costs less labor to run over them. Care- 
fully arranged topic-analyses, constructed by the 
student himself, or a book with the important points 
underscored, are often of use in freshening up infor- 
mation. Teaching the subject is another valuable ex- 
ercise in reproduction. It not only gives interest to 
the facts, and compels us to reproduce them exactly ; 
but also leads us to examine them more closely for 
purposes of explanation and illustration, than prob- 
ably we have been in the habit of doing. 

In carrying on the work of education, the teacher 
is specially concerned to see that regular review is 
properly arranged for and carried out. It is one 
great element of success. Lessons of review at con- 
venient divisions of a subject, or after a course has 
been gone though, are very helpful — not only to 
memory by reproduction, but in strengthening weak 
places, and giving grasp of the work as a whole. But 



Memory in Education. 79 

perhaps the most valuable means of review for use in 
school is the examination, set with the distinct object 
of training — as a way of obtaining the careful repro- 
duction of the things asked, of securing readiness in 
settling down to answer questions, of giving judgment 
in distributing time, of disciplining the mind to deal 
with a subject in a given space, and of accustoming 
the examinee to the process of selection, so that he 
may give the most essential points. 

These examinations should be frequent, and should 
deal only with the parts of a subject which have been 
taught or prepared. They should require principally 
those facts which it is most important the atten- 
tion should be directed to, so that they may become 
fixed in the memory. Examinations of this kind are 
quite different in aim, and will frequently be different 
in character, to pass or competitive tests, which are 
intended to serve a quite other purpose. 

After a child has completed his school work, in 
many cases very much of what he has learned is for- 
gotten for want of use, before its value is appreciated ; 
so that when the usefulness of increased information 
comes to be felt, so much drudgery of early work 
needs to be gone through again, that the idea of self- 
education is abandoned. Austria seems to be the 
only country which has recognized, in educational 
legislation, the gravity of this fact. As far back as 
1 78 1 the law arranged for ' review courses of instruc- 
tion ' for children who had passed through the ele- 
mentary schools ; and this was completed by the law 
of 1 8 16, which made attendance on the review courses 
compulsory, until the close of the fifteenth year of 
age, or the end of apprenticeship. 



So The Work of Education, 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION, JUDG- 
. MENT, AND REASON. 

Memory, conception, and imagination are frequently- 
spoken of as the representative faculties, because 
each in its own way brings before the mind ideas 
previously gained through the action of the perceptive 
faculty. The terms, however, especially the two 
latter, include domains of such very varied extent, 
and are made to overlap to so large a degree, that 
the student at first is very apt to get confused. What 
one writer treats under a particular head is by another 
writer named quite differently, even when the same 
terms are used by both. It will depend upon the 
way in which we define imagination, as to whether it 
is to be considered an early or a late faculty ; and the 
same may be said of the judgment. The latter term 
is frequently used as a synonym for understanding and 
reason ; though by the understanding is often signified 
the whole intellectual activity, and by the reason some- 
times the higher aspects of judgment, sometimes the 
logical processes only. 

A. Imagination. 

Imagination is most commonly spoken of as the 
power by means of which the mind images to itself 



Imagination, yudgment, and Reason. 8 1 

certain combinations of ideas. It takes as elements 
the ideas already existing in the mind, and selecting 
certain of these combines them in a way of its own ; 
it may be with an intensity of realism, a vividness of 
color, a completeness of detail, and, in its higher 
products, a perfection of beauty and a power of pro- 
ducing emotion, which completely surpass, in these 
respects, anything with which the other faculties 
supply us, 

The elements are natural transcripts of real exis- 
tences ; the product may be merely an imitative and 
truthful picture intensely realized ; or may be utterly 
unlike anything previously existing in the mind, either 
from its incongruity with natural things, or from its 
transcending them in all those qualities which go to 
make up ideal perfection. In the former case we pro- 
nounce the result unreal, grotesque, or extravagant ; 
and this fantastic, whimsical, ridiculous side of the 
imagination, which aims mainly at amusement, is often 
denominated/^;^. The imagination shows itself in 
invention, in illustration, in power of appreciation, in 
emotion, in dramatic power, in improvisation ; and, 
lastly, in that wonderful insight into truth, and that 
extreme sensibility to beauty, which mark the genius 
of the scientific discoverer or the artist. It opens up 
many possibilities, and its value will depend upon 
the original strength of the power, upon the mode in 
which it has been trained, and the use to which it is 
put. On the one hand it may serve important pur- 
poses of culture, both intellectual and moral ; it may 
add to our joys, give force to our virtues, and 
strengthen our faith ; it may aid us to discover ele- 
ments of beauty worthy of our admiration in the 
commonest things and circumstances of life, and help 

G 



82 The Work of Education. 

to raise us above mere animal pleasures, or the 
absorbing contemplation of our own selfish ends ; it 
may assist the intelligence to penetrate into regions 
unknown, and enable genius to unlock for us the 
secret chambers of nature, or fashion for us the 
beauties of art. On the? other hand, it may usurp the 
power of the other faculties, and render the mind 
dreamy and unpractical; it may rouse evil passions, 
picture degrading scenes, and make vice alluring ; it 
may promote a spirit of rash speculation, or blind 
enthusiasm, and lead to delusion or superstition ; and, 
further, it ' may be employed for calling into being 
evils which have no existence, or for exaggerating 
those which are real, for fostering malevolent feel- 
ings, and for imputing to those with whom we are 
connected, motives and intentions which have no 
foundation in truth.' 1 Kept in check it is a most 
valuable servant, but allowed to run riot and override 
the other faculties it is a serious source of evil. Even 
its disproportionate and excessive use has a tendency 
to destroy the balance of the mind. It is well known 
that novelists and poets are more prone than other 
men of healthy minds to insanity. ' Great wits are 
sure to madness near allied.' 

Imagination differs from memory, in that in the 
latter case we reproduce as faithfully as possible a 
pre-existing type, and carefully avoid mixing up any 
other elements than those previously held in connec- 
tion by the mind. The business of memory is to 
present facts as they happened ; there must be no 
rearrangement, no confusion, the more exact the copy 
the better ; in imagination only an idealized similarity 

1 Abercrombie's Intellectual Powers. 



Imagination, Judgment, a7id Reason. 83 

is aimed at Memory gives us a word for word 
-translation, as it were, and confines itself to its sub- 
ject ; imagination gives a free rendering with added 
illustrations and digressions, which may be an im- 
provement upon the original, but is not the counter- 
part of it. Memory reproduces only images of real 
and past experiences ; imagination conjures up ficti- 
tious visions, and projects itself with equal facility 
into the past or the future. 

The imagination is nearly always spoken of as of 
two kinds: — (1) reproductive or constructive ; and 
(2) creative. By the constructive imagination is. 
meant that everyday phase of the faculty, which 
allies itself for the most part with the intellectual side 
of the mind, and which is more particularly capable 
of cultivation, and more directly amenable to control. 
In its lowest aspects it is nothing more than extended 
conception ; the power of rapidly combining and, as it 
were, objectifying ideas, of realizing as vividly and 
truthfully as possible objects or scenes suggested to 
the mind — as the appearance of an animal we have 
never seen but have read of, the aspect of a foreign 
country from description, or the sufferings of a ship- 
wrecked mariner from our knowledge of the circum- 
stances. In common language we often say indif- 
ferently we cannot imagine or cannot conceive a 
thing. Some writers, indeed, make the word concep- 
tion cover the whole of the constructive side of the 
imagination, but it seems better to exclude from the 
former term the elements of fiction or invention prop- 
erly so-called — all such products, that is, as have no 
original. 

The creative imagination concerns itself more 
especially with discovery, with producing for us works 



84 The Work of Education. 

of taste and beauty ; and when working in the latter 
direction associates with itself a large element of 
emotion. It is but little amenable to laws, and in its 
higher forms is rather a special gift than a product of 
cultivation. At the same time, it may be greatly 
invigorated by training, directed in its action, and 
brought into harmonious working with the other 
faculties. It is modified by their influence, and in 
turn reacts upon them. It lends its aid to the settle- 
ment of what is to be done in the case of difficulty, 
acts as pioneer in the discovery of the way, and takes 
a large share in portioning out the work. It is, how- 
ever, a late development, and except in so far as it is 
strengthened by the general means for the cultivation 
of the imagination as a whole, it does* not fall within 
the ordinary province of the teacher. 

That the imagination acts very early may be seen from 
the vague terrors of children at suggested evils, from their 
intense personifying power — as shown by their mode of 
treating their playthings, and the way in which they credit 
inanimate things with life ; from their power of ' supposing ' 
an object to be this or that, or of transporting themselves 
into imaginary circumstances ; and from the keenness with 
which they feel the pleasures of anticipation. Many persons, 
however, seem to look with suspicion on the cultivation of 
this faculty as likely, either to render the child excitable, 
timorous, and apprehensive, and to inflame the passions, 
or to lead to that dreamy inactive state in which the mind 
seems always preoccupied with its own fancies. Others, 
again, failing to recognize the numerous useful functions of 
a healthy imagination, are inclined to view it as entirely 
ornamental, and useless for the practical concerns of life. 
As a matter of fact, however, the evils generally arise as the 
result of neglect of cultivation — from its having been left to 
follow its own bent, from the lack of proper regulation, and 



Imagination ; Judgment, and Reason. 85 

from the absence of that proportionate attention to all the 
faculties which gives the mind its true power. Certainly 
the average child is bettered by the cultivation of the 
imagination. There is no subject of study which may not 
be aided by its proper use, and no position in life which 
may not be br ghtened by it, if led into proper channels. 
'With reason,' as Professor Blackie remarks, 'it is often the 
best and the most indispensable of allies.' 

The fact that imagination in all its phases makes 
use of materials already stored in the mind, indicates 
that the more thorough and extended the child's 
perceptional training — the more ample and varied 
the store of ideas — the more readily will imagination 
find the elements necessary to its combinations. But 
passing over the assistance rendered in this way, we 
proceed to speak of some of the more direct modes 
by which the teacher may foster the right growth of 
the imagination itself. 

Nothing perhaps is more likely to have a bene- 
ficial effect upon the growth of this faculty, than 
promoting a reading habit, and providing children 
with wholesome and interesting books. There is 
now so much that is excellent, so much that will 
lighten many a weary hour, both in fiction and in 
poetry, that it is a real loss if no taste for, and power 
to enjoy imaginative works is given by the school. 
The necessary qualities of reading books will be 
spoken of in another place ; but, in addition to these, 
the teacher may do much in guiding the home reading 
of children. Many of our large towns possess free 
lending libraries, which the children of reading age 
should be encouraged to use, the teacher suggesting 
good books and giving a word of advice here and 
there respecting the reading. Wherever too the 



86 The Work of Education, 

funds will permit, a small school library should be 
established. The books found in these are often too 
dry, too ill assorted, to serve their purpose well. Books 
devoted to information there should be ; but these 
should not form even the larger part. In these days 
of cheap literature — often of the most pernicious 
kind — we have to present a counter attraction ; and 
this can readily be found in thoroughly interesting 
books, good standard novels of the Sir Walter Scott 
type, stories of honor and heroism, fables and parables, 
books of travel and adventure, and a judicious selec- 
tion of the poets. Nor need we be afraid of fairy 
stories or eastern tales, so long, as the grotesque 
element does not preponderate. The teacher may 
often serve a double purpose by occasionally reading 
a short interesting story in school, with comments 
and questions. Valuable opportunities of training 
will also frequently occur during the reading lesson, 
and in the upper classes the children may be gradually 
led to appreciate some of the higher elements of 
poetry. The learning of select extracts of acknowl- 
edged excellence will not only store their minds with 
beautiful images, but tend to improve their taste, and 
provide them with standards for comparison. 

Pictures again serve a very useful purpose in the 
training of the imagination, whether used as lesson 
illustrations or as occurring in books. 

In some sets of reading books, the woodcuts throw 
no light, or only a confusing one, upon the lessons, and 
so far as their use in enabling the child to realize the 
story is concerned would be better omitted. It is a 
good exercise to allow a child occasionally to explain 
or 'read' the pictures, especially such as occur in the 
books he uses. This may best be done in the reading 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 87 

lesson, the other children watching narrowly for errors 
and supplying omissions. The object is to elicit from 
the child just such a description or story, told in his 
own words, as the picture would exactly illustrate. 
The delight with which children enter into this work, 
the sudden brightening up of attention, the frequent 
skill in invention, and the little touches of humor and 
dramatic power displayed, render the exercise not only 
a good training for the imagination, but a useful and 
pleasant recreative break ; especially with a somewhat 
jaded class. 

The ' picturing out ' method in teaching is another 
aid in "the culture of the imagination, and is most 
useful in such lessons as geography and history. And 
lastly, in addition to the various means described, 
much may be done by directing attention to the 
beauties of nature ; by quickening the observation, 
and pointing out elements worthy of admiration in 
the objects brought under notice ; by encouraging 
little experiments, mechanical inventions, or ingenuity 
in overcoming difficulties ; by the recital of noble, 
courageous, or generous actions, and by promoting 
the formation of a high ideal of conduct and the 
constant struggle after a higher degree of perfection. 

In the case of children given to day-dreaming we 
must stimulate to activity, both of body and mind ; 
we must arouse their interest, encourage play, and 
by giving them a full share of such work as answering 
questions during teaching, leave them little opportu- 
nity for turning their attention inwards. 

Finally, the best means of keeping the imagination 
in its place, when inclined to be unduly active, is not 
by systematic neglect — for it will find food without 
our aid — or any attempt at suppression ; but by 



88 The Work of Education. 

increased attention to the strengthening of such fac- 
ulties as the judgment and the reason in opposi- 
tion to it, and by removing as much as possible all 
emotional incitements to its operation. In any case,, 
we have so to distribute exercise amongst the various 
powers that each may have suitable opportunities 
afforded to it, and the mental balance be as far a& 
possible preserved under all circumstances. 

b. Judgment. 

When we mentally place side by side two notions 
or two objects or two courses of conduct, in order ta 
examine them as to their agreement or disagreement, 
their truth or falsehood, or as to whether this or that 
is the right course to pursue, and we decide what is to 
be thought or done, we are said to use our judgment. 
In any case judgment supposes comparison, either 
conscious or unconscious, and selection or choice of 
one view rather than another. All thought thus 
involves judgment, and we see that assertions or 
propositions, which are but expressed judgments., 
must be either positive or negative in form. The 
term judgment is often made to cover a great deal of 
ground, including not only reason, but almost every 
phase of mental action. As Dr. Carpenter remarks,, 
' all the faculties are exercised in an act of judgment,' 
which according to this view comprehends the entire 
process of arriving at a decision. Still, it is quite 
possible to confine the term to the mere balance of 
data provided by the other faculties, and the expres- 
sion of the result. Just as in building a house the 
making of the bricks, the sawing of the wood, the 
carting of the materials, &c, are all necessary steps;. 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 89 

yet they may be kept quite distinct from the actual 
process of building itself. 

As previously pointed out, reason is often employed 
as a mere synonym for judgment, but more usually 
it is confined to one phase of this faculty — the mental 
act whereby we consider in connection the force of 
certain previous judgments or facts of observation, 
and in consequence of this consideration pass on to 
another decision founded upon them. We shall find 
shortly that we commonly do this in one of two ways, 
either by a deductive or by an inductive process. Rea- 
soning is thus nothing but a higher form of judgment, 
involving comparison and the drawing of an inference ; 
an intentional starting with known facts to arrive at 
something as yet unknown ; an act of judgment 
according to certain fixed methods of procedure. 
The reasoning processes therefore serve to give 
direction to the working of the judgment, and form 
as it were a kind of machinery of search after truth. 

The province of perception is to present to the 
mind outward things ; the province of the repre- 
sentative faculties is to recall past ideas or image 
forth new combinations ; the province of the judg- 
ment and the reason is to compare and decide — ' to 
strip away what is merely temporary, in the multi- 
plicity of daily experience, and to retain that which 
bears upon it the marks of an universal truth, valid 
alike in the sphere of nature and in the region of 
thought.' The products of perception are ideas, and the 
signs words ; the products of judgment are decisions 
or propositions, and the signs sentences. The accurate 
wording of ideas and conclusions is a consideration 
of vital importance in connection with the judgment, 
and deserving of careful attention on the part of the 



90 The Work of Education. 

teacher, both as a study, and in connection with his 
work. It is not sufficient only to have right ideas, 
or to judge correctly ; if we wish to free ourselves 
from all haziness of conception, to retain our notions 
or decisions clearly and accurately, to make them of 
benefit to others, or to use them readily ourselves, 
the expression of them in precise and compendious 
language is a necessity. ' A country may be over-run 
by an armed host,' says Sir W. Hamilton, ' but it is 
only conquered by the establishment of fortresses. 
Words are the fortresses of thought. They enable 
us to realize our dominion over what we have already 
over-run in thought, to make every intellectual conquest 
the basis of operations for others still beyond.' It is 
thus a necessity in good teaching to attend to both 
ideas and words, thoughts and expression. We must 
not only see that the child grasps our meaning, but 
make him give back his knowledge in his own words. 
Questioning, writing abstracts of lessons, and ex- 
aminations, are all useful means to this end. Hearing 
words frequently and accurately used, with plenty of 
exercises demanding their employment, and the cor- 
rection as well as detection of the errors he makes, 
will do more for the understanding of a child than any 
number of formal definitions. 

In explaining a word, to isolate it and give a dictionary 
definition, even when within the range of the child's com- 
prehension, is the wrong method. It should always be 
treated in connection with the context, and the sense of the 
passage taken first. Sometimes this will be sufficient, and 
at least it will then be easy to narrow down the meaning of 
the particular word to the idea required. This will not 
only enable the child to give the signification of the word, 
but will show him how it should be used. Every teacher 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 91 

knows that a child is frequently able to give the purport of 
a passage containing a difficult word, while he is quite 
unable to give the sense of the particular word when taken 
away from its connections. One meaning at a time is all 
that should be attempted. It is a common error to dwell 
upon the various significations of a new word with children. 
Such a proceeding is pretty certain to end in nothing but 
confusion, until a somewhat extended knowledge of words 
and meanings has been acquired ; even then it needs tact 
and skill. A child's ideas and vocabulary should run side 
by side ; to endeavor to teach either out of proportion to 
the other is a mistake. 

The everyday requirements of life are continually- 
calling upon us for exercises of judgment, many of 
which we are enabled to verify and correct. The 
actual results of these judgments, although they may- 
have passed from the consciousness, seem to give the 
mind a kind of instinctive power of looking into 
things, and arriving at a decision without any very 
definite realization of the grounds upon which the 
judgment is based. This faculty is usually spoken of 
as 'common sense,' or 'good sense,' and often exerts 
a very large influence upon our ordinary decisions. 
The more extended and varied our experience is, and 
the more determinately we endeavor habitually to 
arrive at just conclusions, the more valuable does 
the intuitive help to be derived from common sense 
become. 

On the other hand, as each one of us is placed in 
certain circumstances, which are in many respects 
similar from day to day, any particular decision we 
arrive at has an influence upon the next act of a simi- 
lar kind which we are called upon to perform. Thus 
our judgments tend to fall into special lines, and we 



92 The Work of Education. 

come to form certain * habits of thought,' as they are 
called ; the mind takes a natural bent, and looks at 
things from a particular point of view. This habitual 
mental attitude very materially influences our judg- 
ment. Prejudices are simply exaggerated forms, of 
this natural bias ; and in a similar way arise certain 
class narrownesses from which very few persons are 
wholly free. These ingrained tendencies account too 
for the very different value assigned to particular 
grounds of judgment by different individuals, and the 
very diverse decisions they sometimes honestly arrive 
at respecting the same thing. The prevalence and 
persistency of error show us how difficult it is in many 
matters for us to come to a right judgment, and how 
easily we may be led astray. These mental ten- 
dencies are thus very apt to mislead us, to warp our 
views, to keep out of sight certain elements which 
should receive consideration, and to make us un- 
charitable and forgetful of what is due to others. It 
is therefore highly important that we should be as 
free as possible from the effects of previous mistaken 
judgments ; that we should keep selfish motives or 
party interests out of consideration ; and exercise 
due caution in restraining our emotions, our likes 
and dislikes, within proper bounds. We should also 
accustom ourselves to make ready allowance for 
factors we may have overlooked, and to view any 
subject brought before us for decision in as compre- 
hensive a manner as possible. 

Now as these ' acquired conditions of mind ' are 
many of them formed while we are young, and as 
habits then generated act with greater force, and are 
much more tenacious, than those developed later in 
life, it is clear that the teacher should endeavor, as 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 93 

far as he is able, to see that the tendencies formed by 
the child are correct ones : that his views are broad- 
ened as much as is consistent with his age, and that 
much suitable and corrected practice in judgment is 
afforded him. What we have to aim at is to give 
exactness of observation, readiness of comparison, 
and promptness of decision ; and to steer clear of 
rashness on the one hand and indecision on the 
other. 

The importance of a sound judgment can scarcely be 
over-rated. It ' assists moral education by enabling man 
easily to distinguish good from evil. It prompts him to 
regulate his conduct according to the various situations in 
which he may be placed. It produces tranquillity of soul ; 
for it guards against violent emotions, by the mental habit 
of bestowing on all things the attention which they deserve, 
of considering them in their true light, and estimating them 
by their just value. Without rectitude of judgment, man is 
a slave to prejudice and passion ; his memory only exposes 
his folly ; his imagination and sympathies continually lead 
him astray ; his habit of observation multiplies his errors ; 
his spirit of invention and discovery causes his ruin ; his 
reasoning, although it may be logical, by starting from wrong 
premises brings him to false conclusions. Even moral 
qualities often become dangerous when unaccompanied by 
sound judgment: courage degenerates into rashness, indul- 
gence into weakness, frankness into indiscretion, economy 
into avarice, and religion into superstition or fanaticism.' x 

Judgment in its simplest form begins to act at a 
very early period, long before anything of the nature 
of what is usually meant by education is brought to 
bear upon the child. It is remarkable how soon he 
learns to trace analogies, detect differences, and come 
to simple decisions respecting the things around him. 

1 Marcel, Language as a means of Mental Culture. 



94 The Work of Education. 

As in the case of the other faculties, if we would have 
a child judge well we must lay the foundation in clear 
and accurate perceptions. These not only store the 
mind with data for future use, but their acquisition 
affords numerous opportunities of exercising a child's 
judgment in a suitable manner. It is thus necessary, 
from this point of view also, that we should train the 
child's observation, extend his experience of things, 
and strengthen his power of grasping their reality 
and meaning. Hazy and imperfect understanding 
can only end in weak and mistaken judgments. It 
is the training to be gained by the ' object lesson ' 
which gives it its main value ; the facts are of secon- 
dary importance. If the knowledge we present to 
the child is not such as he can employ his powers 
upon, or is so crowded as not to give him proper 
time, we must not expect that his judgment, or any 
other faculty, will be much benefited. 

We have seen that in judgment we have two steps 
to take into account — comparison and decision. Now 
as the correctness of the latter depends upon the suc- 
cess with which the former has been accomplished, 
and results naturally from it, it follows that the great 
means for the early cultivation of the judgment is to 
accustom children to perform rapid and accurate com- 
parisons. How valuable this process of comparison 
is, in connection with the whole intellectual training, 
may be seen from the fact that it includes two of the 
three functions into which Professor Bain reduces all 
strictly intellectual operations — the detection of simi- 
larities and the discrimination of differences. 

With children, so far as judgment is concerned, 
we must begin with objects ; the order of the exercises 
being comparison of things as wholes, then of their 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 95 

qualities, &c, then of simple conceptions, passing on 
gradually to more complex acts of judgment and 
simple reasoning. We may seek to bring out by 
comparison, similarity, difference or identity respect- 
ing (1) quantity — as size, number, degree, equivalence, 
&c. ; (2) properties or qualities — as shape, color, text- 
ure, hardness, &c. ; (3) functions, or modes of action, 
uses, &c. . We may also view two things as to their 
sequence and relationship — the dependence of one thing 
on another, which we speak of as cause and effect ; 
the relation of a thing to its surroundings, or adapta- 
tion to circumstances, and so on. The work of com- 
parison must be done as far as possible by the child, 
the teaching being directive and suggestive. Nor 
must there be any formal array of the measures we 
adopt. The more natural and unrestrained the lessons 
are the better ; and here as elsewhere our machinery 
and plans should be kept as far as possible out of 
sight. The exercises of the judgment in children, the 
comparisons they are called upon to make, should be 
incidental rather than systematic, especially at first. 
It should not be forgotten that the main things to 
attend to during the early stages are perceptive and 
conceptive training, and that the larger share of the 
teaching should be directed to this end. Still the 
teacher will find almost every lesson he comes to will 
supply opportunities of cultivating the judgment, and 
these he should not neglect. 

Later on definite lessons of comparison will be 
found very useful, if properly managed ; but even here 
other things will of course also need attention. While 
the teacher should not forget that a distinct purpose — 
that is, distinct to him — is essential, he must at the 
same time be careful not to let it run away with him. 



96 The Work of Education. 

Elaborate special lessons, put into the strait-waist- 
coat of a rigidly fixed purpose, are generally weari- 
some ; they lack the necessary freedom for a good 
lesson, there is not sufficient room left for the chil- 
dren's minds to stretch themselves, except just in the 
way proposed, in consequence of which interest and 
attention flag, and little good results. The ends 
proposed, no matter how minute, may be reached 
without this. 

After progress has been made in the power of 
detecting resemblances,' both of objects and qualities, 
we may gradually extend our comparisons to concep- 
tions on the one hand, and to a number of objects on 
the other, passing thus to simple exercises in generali- 
zation and classification. Here the attention has to 
be directed to the detection of the elements common 
to the objects or conceptions examined, and when 
they have been discovered the child must be led to 
select some common characteristic as a test of agree- 
ment to be applied to other objects. Lessons on 
plants or animals taught in the simplest way, with 
plenty of specimens in the one case, and of pictures or 
models in the other, with frequent use of black-board 
in both, will afford opportunities for a large number 
of very simple exercises in classification. Numerous 
other objects suitable for lessons will also supply 
materials for a similar training. 

As the child's power strengthens and he becomes 
able to understand them, the cultivation of the judg- 
ment may be carried into moral matters, and the 
exercises be made gradually more and more complex 
up to the limit of his power. We must nevertheless 
be careful not to go beyond it, and to proceed very 
slowly. History and Biography afford much material 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 97 

for the formation of simple moral judgments, and if 
properly used will lead to good results. There is, 
however, always the danger of going too far. 

If the child is to progress he must be left to 
judge for himself in the cases put before him for 
exercise, not simply learn what we think about the 
matter. He must be taught to recognize what are 
essential characteristics, and what are merely acci- 
dental or variable, and to fasten his mind upon the 
important points. We must here be very patient 
over his errors. It is a great mistake to show dis- 
pleasure at the faulty judgments of a child where 
such care as he is capable of has been exercised. 
Encouragement is what is wanted. Right judgment 
cannot be compelled nor growth hurried by compul- 
sion. Displeasure takes off part of the child's atten- 
tion, thus increasing the difficulty of correct decision, 
and he cannot but feel the in ustice of blaming him 
for the want of power not yet developed to the point 
required. 

At the same time that we endeavor to give him con- 
fidence, we must be very careful not to allow him to fall into 
that form of conceit which fancies itself capable of deciding 
upon every question, no matter how difficult. He should be 
shown that we must not be too confident about what seems 
to be the evidence of our senses — that the horizon, for 
instance, is not the boundary it seems, nor are the stars 
twinkling points of fire. There are very numerous cases 
in which, even when he has made much progress, it is mani- 
festly impossible for him to come to a correcc decision, 
except by a process but little, if at all, removed from the 
harmful practice of guessing. These he must be content to 
accept on authority. This is only what we all have to do, 
to a greater or less extent, through life ; and to allow a 
child to grow up with the notion that he will ever be able 



9 8 The Work of Education. 

to judge correctly of all things is to foster that habit of in- 
tellectual pride which leads to dogmatism, and so often 
presents an effectual bar to further progress. 

Finally, it should be borne in mind that judgment 
is not a thing which can be picked up by imitation, 
or which by any means necessarily accompanies the 
acquirement of information ; and that though every 
school subject may be made usefully to afford exer- 
cise to the judgment, it is only in so far as the work 
is intelligent that we have a right to expect any use- 
ful results. 

c. Reasoning Processes. 

We have seen that when in order to arrive at a 
conclusion we formally arrange for consideration, and 
define the extent of, certain truths to be used as 
materials, and from these develop some further truth 
related to them, we are said to reason. If we consider 
a large number of individual cases, and from these 
draw a more general truth, we are said to reason 
inductively. If, on the other hand, we start with a 
general truth and a more particularized one having a 
link of connection with it, and from the examination 
of these premisses, as they are called, we recognize 
that they involve a third truth, or inference, we are 
said to reason deductively. Whichever process we 
adopt we see that reasoning depends upon the law of 
similarity. As general truths are looked upon as the 
highest forms of truth, in inductive reasoning we are 
said to reason upwards^ in deductive reasoning to 
reason downwards. The grasp of a truth by the 
higher operations of reason ' implies far more than the 
attainment of a bare definition of it. It implies that 
we have penetrated to its very centre, that we can 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 99 

trace its pedigree in the world both of matter and 
form, that we can regard it as one link in a connected 
chain, of which we are able to tell the antecedents 
and foretell the consequents; that we can recognize 
it, in fine, as a particular manifestation of some great 
and universal law, the operation of which we have 
learned to comprehend and apply.' 1 

The process of induction leads us from particulars 
to the discovery of more generalized forms of truth ; 
it searches for causes from a consideration of the 
effects ; it gathers up a number of facts or individual 
experiences, and states the conclusion to be drawn 
from them in a brief and convenient formula. This 
general conclusion, or experiential truth, may take 
several forms, according to the kind of generalization 
made. If it sums up the several common charac- 
teristics which distinguish a group or class of things, 
so as to enable us at once to say whether any new 
individual does or does not belong to the group, it is 
called a defi?iition. If it states a general truth in a 
way which serves to express the conditions or common 
mode under which things exist or act, it is called a 
law ; or if viewed more particularly with respect to 
its influence in leading to further action or discovery, 
a principle. If it is of far-reaching application, com- 
bining, it may be, a number of less comprehensive 
laws ; if it serves to bind together a large number of 
individual facts into a harmonious whole, where each 
has its proper place, and it carries our explanation of 
things a step further back towards their final cause, 
it is called a theory. 

The points to which we have to pay attention in 
induction, and upon which the value of the results 

1 Morell, Elements of Psychology. 



ioo The Work of Education. 

depends, are, (i) the correctness and care with which 
the particular facts have been observed ; (2) the im- 
portance or essential nature of the points of similarity 
contained in the truth arrived at ; (3) the compre- 
hensiveness of the generalization ; and (4) the neat- 
ness and exactness with which the result is expressed 
in words. 

Induction is a more extended and complete process 
than simple generalization. The latter enables us to recog- 
nize the common element, or quality, existing in certain 
objects ; induction proceeds to draw out this quality by 
itself, states it apart from, and independent of, the facts 
upon which it is based, and extends its application to all 
further things of the same kind. It is the method of the so- 
called experimental sciences. By means of the generalized 
truths to which it leads, we are able to grasp and retain 
the facts of nature in a way which would otherwise be im- 
possible. It organizes, or systematizes, our knowledge of 
outward things, and gives it its scientific character. 

The process of deduction is the reverse of that of 
induction. As noted, it commences with axioms, or 
general truths arrived at by induction, or any admitted 
forms of truth, and reasons from these to a number 
of more particularized or detailed truths. These infer- 
ences, as they are called, may be made the basis of 
further reasoning ; and we may proceed from one to 
another until we have a chain of reasoning, not only 
giving us a final truth, but from any link of which a 
new departure may be made for a branch chain of 
argument. 

Deductive reasoning enables us to trace causes into a 
large number of effects, but of the causes themselves it 
tells us nothing further than is originally assumed. It is the 
method of the mathematical, or pure sciences, as they are 



Imagination, Judgment \ and Reason. 101 

called, and appears to be based on the consideration that 
the whole must contain the part — the greater include the 
less. Where the starting points are axioms, as in the case 
of pure geometry, the results, if correctly arrived at, must 
be as absolute as anything within human experience, and 
are therefore sometimes spoken of as necessary truths. 

The three parts, or premisses and inference, involved in 
a single process of deductive reasoning, formally placed out 
in proper order, are called a syllogism. This is not the means 
whereby we reason, for we do so quite independently of it, 
or it may be in ignorance of it ; nor are we often conscious 
of the presence of the three parts the syllogism requires. 
In the great majority of cases, one of the steps, at least, 
leading to the inference is passed over without conscious 
recognition ; the mind takes it for granted, as it were, and 
we link on inference after inference till we reach the point 
required. The syllogism is really a test to apply in difficult 
cases to see if we have reasoned correctly, and discover 
where we have gone wrong. In this way it is of frequent 
use. It is a method of discriminating the steps and scru- 
tinizing the whole process ; it teaches us what sequences are 
allowable, and cautions us as to the errors most frequently 
committed in drawing inferences. 

A child's progress in learning to reason depends 
largely upon the way in which his mind has been fed ; 
how he has been taught to observe, and how far such 
exercises as have been provided for him have been 
kept well within his power. It is only when a child 
has gained a number of clear conceptions, when he 
knows the things for which they stand, when he has 
been taught to examine them side by side and dis- 
tinguish their characteristics, that he can be usefully 
taught to reason about them, no matter how simple 
the exercises may be. It is true that a child infers 
from a very early date, but he does this unconsciously, 



t02 The Work of Education. 

and knows nothing of the process by which he does it. 
His reasoning powers are, as it were, the wings with 
which he will eventually have to fly, but they are weakly 
at first, and should be left to develop themselves with- 
out our interference, until they have strengthened suffi- 
ciently to be usefully employed. The most we should 
attempt is to correct errors in their use. Anything 
of the nature of systematic training in the earlier 
stages is completely out of place, and is likely to 
lead to much mischief; both by overstraining the 
powers it is intended to benefit, and by drawing off 
the attention from other necessary things. Gymnastic 
exercises, both physical and mental, have a use and a 
proper place in the training of the child, but this is 
not during the first period, when growth, and not the 
power to exert in any particular way such strength 
as he possesses, is the essential thing. It is proper 
food the child wants, both for body and mind ; he 
will find his strength by-and-by. In early years he 
is more occupied in taking in impressions, in learning 
what things are, than in troubling himself about their 
relations and consequences. The teacher should 
never lose sight of the fact that it is as fatal a mistake 
to overtrain the child as to neglect him. Such 
simple and occasional trial trips in reasoning as occur 
during the course of his lessons, we may allow him to 
take just to stretch his wings, but we must keep our 
paraphernalia of training out of the way, and let him 
go his own gait for a time. It is impossible to insist 
too strongly upon making a child's lesson-work in 
early years as natural and joyous for him as may be 
— play with an element of work in it, if you like, but 
in spirit much what good play is to him. He is a child, 
and should be treated as one. We must not fall into 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 103 

either extreme ; and while on the one side deliberate 
cultivation of the reason must not be undertaken too 
soon, on the other it must not be neglected after the 
child is well capable of receiving proper logical train- 
ing. Some children are both quick at and fond of 
reasoning ; there are many others, whose minds are 
quite strong enough for the attempt, but who rarely 
make any effort — these need to be stimulated; and 
there are still a few, who seem incapable of progress- 
ing beyond the very simplest exercise of the power. 
When the child is able to bear them, easy incidental 
exercises in inductive reasoning, especially concern- 
ing objects, may be given. These join on so readily to 
simple exercises of judgment, and may be used with 
so little formality, that they may usefully be employed 
long before any direct attempt is made to cultivate 
the deductive power. 

The foundation upon which inductive training 
must be built is exact and ready observation. Defects 
in this respect may arise from want of attention, lack 
of the necessary skill, or ignorance of what to look 
for. All these things have therefore to be borne in 
mind in our teaching, and a remedy, as far as is prac- 
ticable, provided. When once the child is capable 
of making very simple generalizations, opportunities 
of practice will be afforded by almost every school 
subject. Very simple experimental lessons, with only 
a few central truths, and a large number of illustra- 
tions, are, in their proper place, very useful. Many 
arithmetical rules are best taught inductively, by 
making children feel what is wanted, and then step 
by step supplying the materials and suggestions 
necessary for the evolution of the rule itself. Again, 
in teaching the parts of speech, the best plan is, to 



104 The Work of Educatio7t. 

let children examine a large number of words of the 
class we wish to define, taken in sentences, so that 
their connection may be clear ; then to lead the 
pupils to discover the common characteristics of 
these words ; and finally to word an effective defini- 
tion. In teaching science it is very easy to see also, 
that with children at least, the descriptive parts should 
be taught first ; the laws being slowly led up to in 
order of difficulty, and the information the children 
already possess made little by little more exact, con- 
nected, and scientific in form. 

As the child's education advances, we may in- 
creasingly take advantage of such chances of more 
difficult inductive training as fall in our way, and 
gradually extend the use of the process beyond the 
sphere of observation into the region of thought. 
The real work must be done by the child, the teacher 
placing the materials in the best way, removing diffi- 
culties, and directing the attention. We must not 
allow a child, however, to blindly suppose that all the 
conclusions he arrives at by induction are necessarily 
true. He must be taught the difference between 
absolute certainty and very high probability, cau- 
tioned as to generalizing on too few cases, and led to 
test his results by further observation. 

When we come to deductive exercises, we must 
be content to go very slowly at first, and take the 
utmost care that the child actually reasons, not that 
he merely adopts our views and conclusions. Mere 
repetition of a process is not a satisfactory test that 
the child has grasped the reasoning as he should do. 
Let him think for himself. If we are careful that 
the words employed express the idea in as exact and 
simple a way as possible, and see that he clearly 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 105 

understands the facts from which he is to start, we 
shall often find that he will reason quite readily. 
The work to be of use must therefore be spontaneous, 
and as little fettered as to form as may be. Even 
when we definitely aim at exercising his reasoning 
power in a lesson, he should be the last to perceive 
this. Care is necessary that the exercises demanded 
do not require either greater grasp of the materials, 
or greater insight, than can be justly expected of 
him. We must have considerable patience, encourage 
him to attend carefully to what he is about, and 
repress any tendency to haste or randomness. We 
should endeavor also to reason in all cases justly 
and simply ourselves, and listen patiently to any 
objections he may urge. These show that his mind 
is actually working, and we should not silence dis- 
cussion by the interposition of our authority, or pooh- 
pooh difficulties without explaining them. The child 
will learn many valuable lessons by his mistakes, if 
they are treated in a proper way, and will be en- 
couraged to further efforts, not disheartened by feeling 
either that the work is beyond his power, or that his 
attempts are not appreciated. 

' Why ' is the introduction to many simple exer- 
cises of reasoning, but it is a much more difficult 
question, especially to little children, if anything much 
above a guess is expected in answer, than is often 
recognized. It presupposes the power to think. Its 
use is not to make a child reason — except in so far as 
the expectation of the question being put in future cases 
may lead him to do so — but to compel him after he 
has stated an isolated fact, which should be an infer- 
ence, to go back and show us the grounds upon which 
he arrived at his decision. It demands the expression 



106 The Work of Education. 

of what should have been the process in his own mind, 
and this is often more difficult to the child than the 
reasoning itself. 

Grammar provides us with many useful and easy 
exercises in deductive reasoning — especially in parsing 
and analysis. In deciding upon a part of speech, for 
instance, the rule should be : first to make the child fix 
his attention on the use of the word ; secondly, to con- 
sider this in connection with the definition used as a 
test, or it may be several definitions, until the one 
which corresponds is selected ; and, thirdly, to infer 
from this consideration what class the word belongs to. 
This is the direct logical order, and hence the child 
should be taught to say, ' the word does so and so, 
therefore, &c.,' not ' the word is so and so because, &c.' 
The latter, although satisfactory as a restatement, is 
not the order of discovery, the one the child has to 
use ; and the habit of stating his conclusions in this 
way, more especially at first, leads to the attempt to 
apply this method in practice — the guessing at the 
correct thing first, and then trying to substantiate the 
guess. All elaborate reasoning should be avoided 
with children, and nothing of the nature of sustained 
argument put before them until progress in simple 
reasoning has been made. We may often then suc- 
ceed, by proceeding cautiously and steadily, in so 
linking one point to another, that children may arrive 
with us at a final truth we wish to reach; but even 
here, though they pass readily from link to link, they 
are unable to survey the whole chain. Formal demon- 
stration is often attempted most unsuitably in lessons, 
and, until the child has power to grasp its meaning, 
fails to serve any useful purpose. It tends to delude 
the teacher as to the value of the work done, and not 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 107 

only adds much to its difficulty, but is apt to give it a 
learned and repulsive aspect. Euclid, taught in an 
intelligent way, and at a proper period, may be made 
to yield a valuable training in formal reasoning ; but 
learned in the way it frequently is, it is almost value- 
less for children. Each proposition needs to be taken 
to pieces, each step fully stated and simplified, and 
the whole taught independently of the book, until it 
is thoroughly understood. At first the teacher can 
scarcely proceed too cautiously, or make each step 
too sure. The book form of the proposition may then 
be given, as a compendious statement of the entire 
work. After a few propositions treated in this way, 
the help of the teacher in analysis will be less needed, 
and the pupil may be left more and more to himself. 
He must be made to master each proposition 
thoroughly as he proceeds, and will soon, if properly 
dealt with, gain the power of grasping the reasoning 
from the book. He will then need direct help only 
occasionally ; frequent and searching questions being 
nevertheless continued for some time to come. Prop- 
erly taught, it ought not, to the majority of boys, to 
be the difficult and profitless subject it is often found. 
The child has not made the method of reasoning his 
own until he is able to work simple geometrical exer- 
cises for himself. 

Defects and errors in reasoning are of very 
numerous kinds. The principal types of these ' fal- 
lacies ' are clearly described in books on logic, to 
which the teacher should refer, and make himself 
acquainted with such facts as are likely to be useful. 
Faults in reasoning will be found to be mainly of two 
kinds — false assumptions or defective attention to the 
foundation facts, and unsound inferences or defective 



108 The Work of Edtication. 

ways of arriving at a conclusion. It is the teacher's 
business to take heed in the case of children, that they 
realize distinctly what they are reasoning about, that 
they do not mix up what is assumed with what is 
proved, confuse an illustration with the point at issue, 
mistake mere sequences for relationship of cause and 
effect, condemn the whole for the defects of the part, 
or get into a habit of drawing inferences without 
sufficiently careful examination. They must be 
guarded from rash confidence and credulity on the 
one hand, and the suspicious doubting habit, which is 
always on the look out for objections rather than 
truth, on the other. Rightly managed the reasoning 
processes will be to the child of the highest value and 
service through life; but, defectively handled, they 
may prove a constant source of both error and 
trouble. 



The School Work of the Teacher. 109 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SCHOOL WORK OF THE TEACHER. 

The teacher's work in school naturally falls into 
three great divisions, which, taken in logical order, 
are: — (1) organization; (2) discipline; (3) teaching; 
and unless all three receive due attention the work 
is not likely to be performed with that efficiency, 
that economy of time and labor, both of the teacher 
and of the pupils, and that absence of friction, which 
should characterize the operation of every good 
rhool. 
1. Organization. — This includes everything which 
has to do with the machinery of the school ; the con- 
sideration of the suitability and adaptability of the 
room, and of all materials and arrangements for 
carrying on the work. 

It is evident that the first consideration, in order of time, 
with respect to our educational machinery is the schoolroom 
itself ; and, although the teacher's opinion concerning this 
may be seldom asked, it is none the less incumbent upon 
him to know what a thoroughly well-arranged school-build- 
ing should be. That is necessary, in order that he may know 
how to make the best use of such arrangements as exist; 
for, if the evils be such as cannot be entirely eradicated, 
they may in most cases be modified and reduced to a 
minimum by a well-informed teacher. A man who has 



I io The Work of Education. 

tools found him may often have to work with faulty ones r 
but that is no excuse for ignorance of what perfectly good 
tools should be. The main points to which attention must 
be given, are the number, shape, and size of the rooms ; the 
drainage, light, warming, and ventilation ; the fittings and 
furniture ; and the playground and its appointments. 

The rooms having been built, furnished, and arranged, 
are now opened for the reception of the children ; and here 
comes another subject for study. What are we to do with the 
children ? How are they to be arranged in classes and divi- 
sions ; and what principles are to guide us in this classifi- 
cation ? This settled, it becomes necessary to officer each 
class, and we are led to the consideration of the proper dis- 
tribution of the teaching power. All are now ready for work ; 
but what are they to do ? This must not be left to accident, 
or to the decision of the moment ; and in order that no two 
lessons may clash, that none may be neglected, that each 
may be taken at a suitable time, we must distribute both 
the subjects and the time — i.e., we must prepare a timetable. 
We shall need also the use of apparatus and books ; and the 
teacher should not only know what points of excellence to 
look for in each, but the merits of the various kinds in 
common use. The work can now go on without hindrance ; 
but there is still an important branch to be considered, 
namely, the registration. It is necessary to the well : being 
of the school, and is a condition of Government grant to 
elementary schools, that a proper record should be kept of 
each child's attendance, payments, progress, and of various 
other matters. 

We see, then, that organization includes the con- 
sideration of the following topics : — (i) the room and 
its appointments ; (2) the classification of the children; 
(3) the distribution of the teachers ; (4) the apportion- 
ment of time and subjects ; (5) the apparatus and 
books ; and (6) the registration. We must carefully 
guard, however, against the notion, which seems to 



The School Work of the Teacher. I i f 

have become by no means uncommon, that when we 
have attended to the organization of a school we have 
done all that is necessary to secure a satisfactory edu- 
cation to the children, and that the rest may be left 
to chance. Organization is a means not an end. The 
most perfect system of schools, appointed in the most 
costly and elaborate manner, and properly officered, 
is, after all, but the machinery of education, and may 
fail to secure the objects for which it was brought 
into existence. 

Dr. Rigg very pertinently remarks on this subject, ' It is 
common to speak of national education, as if all that was 
or could be meant was a system of schools, or at most of 
schools and colleges, for the people. The schools of the 
nation, it is never doubted, will educate the nation. . . . 
The nation never will or can be educated, as a whole, until 
it is understood that schools can only furnish a part, perhaps 
hardly the most important part, of the education of the 
people. A nation may have a system of schools as com- 
plete as can be organized, and yet be very imperfectly 
educated. On the other hand, a nation might have a very 
imperfect system of schools, or no system of schools at all — 
might have none but purely voluntary schools, or none but 
voluntary and parochial or municipal schools, without any- 
thing like a State system, and yet might be much better 
educated, might be a people of better knowledge and of 
better character, than the people of another country where 
the system of schools was as complete, and as theoretically 
perfect, as could well be organized.' 

2. Discipline. — Although much is done towards 
securing successful teaching when we have perfected 
the organization of a school, yet it is clear much also 
remains to be accomplished before we can insure that 
the work shall go on without waste, and under the 
most hopeful conditions for success. Discipline must 



1 1 2 The Work of Education. 

step in and give the law of the school, the method of 
its government, the mode of working, and the active 
measures necessary for the moral training of the 
children apart from direct instruction. It concerns 
itself mainly with the conduct of the children ; it en- 
deavors to render them amenable to control, so that 
the work may not be marred by disorder ; and it 
includes all those influences of example and govern- 
ment brought to bear upon the pupils in order that 
they may grow up manly and courteous, right-loving 
and God-fearing. 

Hence the teacher needs to consider carefully the best 
means of securing such matters as order, obedience, can- 
dor, truthfulness, honesty, diligence, kindness, cleanliness, 
attention, good manners, &c; together with the motives 
which may be most usefully employed at different times, the 
general measures of government, example, public opinion, 
praise and censure, rewards and punishments, and many 
other things of less importance ; in a word, all that tends 
to right action, order, and law. 

Nor must it be supposed that disciplinary measures 
in themselves are all that is necessary even to moral 
education. We have to train the child to act in a 
reasonable and not a slavish manner, and must there- 
fore not only control and guide him, but by our 
teaching we must so inform his mind with direct pre- 
cepts, so strengthen his intelligence and exercise his 
judgment, that he may gradually be led to indepen- 
dence and self-control. And, in order that as few 
unnecessary difficulties as possible may be placed in 
the way of good school conduct, we must see that 
the disciplinary working is not marred by the action 
of defective arrangements under organization. 

3. Teaching. — Having organized our school in the 



The School Work of the Teacher. 1 1 3 

best practicable manner, and having made the neces- 
sary disciplinary arrangements, the way is now clear 
for the third great division of our work — teaching. 
Here we have naturally three things to consider: the 
person taught, the materials for teaching, and the 
methods of using these materials. 

a. In order to mold correctly the faculties of the child, it 
is necessary first of all to know something of the laws which 
regulate the growth and action of these powers. A know- 
ledge of mental science and physiology (as has been noted) 
will here be of much service to the teacher, but no amount 
of book knowledge ca?i compensate for the want of careful daily 
observation of the pupils themselves. To treat them success- 
fully, the teacher must know his children : know them in- 
dividually — each with his peculiarities of intellect and tem- 
perament, his weaknesses, and his strong points — so that 
when the opportunity arises, the teacher may say the right 
word, and do the right thing, may adjust both his teaching 
and discipline, as far as possible, to meet the needs of the 
case. Thus constant experimental study of the pupils 
themselves cannot be too strongly urged; and the larger 
the amount of knowledge and experience of this kind 
the teacher possesses, the more free from error will his 
practice be. 

b. The subjects of instruction which furnish the know- 
ledge, or material, which the teacher has to make use of, will 
vary to some extent with the school and the grade of 
advancement of the pupils. No matter what the subjects, 
it is absolutely necessary that the teacher should know 
clearly and well those portions he intends to teach. Nor 
must he, if he would do this well, by any means stop here. 
Unless he knows much more than he expects to teach, he 
will find that his lessons will be stiff formal affairs, lacking 
elasticity, variety, and freshness, and marred frequently by 
want of interest or illustration. He will be unable to 
answer many of the questions on side issues, which are 

I 



1 14 The Work of Education. 

always likely to be asked by children, and he will lack con- 
fidence in himself accordingly. Lastly, he will find his 
teaching a source of dissatisfaction to himself, from the con- 
sciousness that he is not doing his work so thoroughly 
and skilfully as he might do. 

The greater the amount of accurate information he has 
at his command, the more useful, easy, and pleasant will, 
cater is paribus, the work become both to himself and his 
pupils. With a reserve of capital he will have no fear of 
bankruptcy, and will be able to cash readily any draft which 
may be presented to him. On this account the teacher 
should never give up his private reading ; which will not 
only give knowledge, but keep alive his sympathy with the 
pupils' difficulties ; and above all men, he should learn to 
go through the world with his eyes open. Unless he is 
constantly accumulating new information, his mind will not 
only become like a stagnant pool, but he will find that what 
he possesses is gradually evaporating. There is no state of 
equilibrium here : non progredi est regredi. 

c. For the teacher to know his subjects well, from an 
examination point of view, is one thing ; to know them in 
a form suitable for presentation to his scholars is another ; 
while to be acquainted with the best methods of communi- 
cating the knowledge he possesses — the principles which 
should govern his teaching, the various devices he should 
make use of, and the share of the work he should exact 
from his pupils — is still a third. He must not only know 
the rules of method which should guide him in his art, but 
should also be acquainted with the principal laws of mind 
and body upon which his methods depend. The art of 
teaching is by no means easy to acquire thoroughly. ' The 
art,' says Lord Bacon, * of well delivering the knowledge we 
possess to others, is amongst the secrets left to be discovered 
by future generations.' We have no doubt advanced in 
many ways since his day, but no teacher will say but what 
an immense deal remains yet to be done, both in way of 
observation and experiment, and of organization of results. 



The School Work of the Teacher. 1 1 5 

Attentive study and careful practice will do much ; but the 
teacher needs to be very careful how far he considers 
either his knowledge of, or skill in, his art perfect. 

It by no means necessarily follows that by carrying 
on the work of teaching we are at the same time 
carrying on the work of education in its true sense. 
Perhaps few points have been more carefully insisted 
upon by writers than the difference between education 
and instruction. 'Instruction,' says M. Rendu, 'gives 
a man a certain amount of knowledge and certain 
talents ; education cultivates the faculties by which 
knowledge must be acquired and talents turned to 
practical account. By instruction we learn certain 
things : education enables us to use properly what 
we have learned. Instruction gives us resources to 
meet such and such a condition of life, and prepares 
us for a particular career ; education puts us in 
possession of general rules applicable to all circum- 
stances and all careers. It is education in short — 
and this is the great reason of its excellence — which, 
by forming the moral character of man, suitably 
prepares us for the high destiny of our nature, and 
enables us to reap the advantage of all the gifts we 
have received from Providence ; it cultivates the first 
stage of existence to make the whole life fertile ; it 
guides us throughout this transitory scene; it prepares 
us for our eternal state. Instruction and education, 
though distinct, are united : they mutually support 
each other ; the one without the other is incomplete. 
In vain shall we have exercised all faculties, if we 
have not applied them to any object ; but it would be 
dangerous on the other hand to give knowledge 
and light without imparting at the same time good 
habits to guide us in using these intellectual treas- 



n6 The Work of Education. 

ures.' 1 And we may add from Willm, ' Unlike instruc- 
tion, education, however imperfect — provided it is in 
harmony with human nature — is always a benefit; 
and no excess of it is to be feared with respect to the 
social condition of the pupils of our popular schools. 
An incomplete and inadequate instruction may be an 
evil, or at least may be without real utility; whilst 
any degree of development given to the natural senti- 
ments and dispositions never can be so ; for effort 
made in this direction, even though not crowned with 
complete success, must be always useful.' 

We all readily recognize the truth of the distinc- 
tion between education and instruction as a matter of 
theory, but it is to be feared that many of us, perhaps 
unwittingly, stop short when we come to practice. We 
direct our attention too exclusively to results which 
can be assayed by the direct test of examination, and 
are apt to neglect that inward fashioning and strength- 
ening of the mind and the moral nature, the results 
of which are in most cases slow to show themselves 
and difficult to recognize, and whose fruits are hardly 
likely to arrive at any perfection until the pupil has 
passed beyond the teacher's control. Few persons 
who are not teachers seem at all to recognize the 
steadiness of purpose, the unswerving adherence to 
duty, the patience and the faith which such labor 
demands; and all honor is due to those teachers who, 
as far as their skill and opportunities go, endeavor 
steadfastly to carry out this higher side of their work, 
content to wait for the results to show themselves in 
the heightened usefulness and upright lives of their 
pupils in the years to come. 

1 Quoted from passages translated in Currie's Common School Ed- 
ucation. 



The School Work of the Teacher, 117 



PART II. 
ORGANIZATION. 1 



CHAPTER I. 

SYSTEMS OF ORGANIZATION. 

The particular scheme of organization adopted will 
of course differ in many of the details with the vary- 
ing conditions of the schools ; still in their larger and 
more important features we shall find at any period 
of school history a large amount of similarity existing 
between certain plans. If we trace the organization 
of schools downward to the present time, we shall 
become aware of certain well-marked varieties or 
types of arrangement, which were in their time very 
widely adopted. The most distinguishing feature, 
perhaps, and the one which seems to serve best as a 
test of classification is the mode of employing the 
teaching power. Applying this test to the schools of 
the past, as well as of the present, we find many in 
which the instruction given by more or less qualified 
teachers was directed to one boy at a time, the rest 
being otherwise employed, and we may conveniently 
speak of all such schools as adopting an individual 
arrangement of work. During the earlier part of 

1 In the following sections I am indebted for many useful facts and 
suggestions to a series of lectures delivered by the Rev. J. Long in 1866. 



1 1 8 Organization. 

this century we find nearly all schools for the poorer 
classes in England, and many on the continent, em- 
ploying one portion of the pupils to teach the others, 
and this scheme we may conveniently denominate 
the mutual system. As the mutual plan fell into 
disfavor, the method of grouping the pupils into 
large classes for simultaneous teaching under an 
adult, in some cases with other special features, was 
tried in many schools, both on the continent and in 
the United Kingdom. This system of arrangement 
may perhaps be best named the collective. 

These form the three most distinctive schemes, 
but many others have at various times been adopted, 
combining various characteristics of those just noted, 
and in some cases with sufficient peculiarities to merit 
attention as distinct plans. These may conveniently 
be grouped under the head of mixed systems. 

I. THE INDIVIDUAL SYSTEM. 

The older schools, whether in connection with 
monasteries or cathedrals, whether grammar or charity 
schools, seem mostly to have been organized pretty 
much in the same way, and to have adopted the 
individual mode of employing the teaching power. 
Even far into this century when schools for the poor 
had arisen in all directions, and were adopting a 
different method, the endowed schools clung to their 
traditional practice. In some cases zeal for reform 
was stirred up, and inquiry started as to new and 
improved plans of work, but for the most part the 
abandonment of old arrangements and old methods 
of teaching was a very slow process, and is not com- 
pleted even at the present time. France seems to 



Systems of Organization. 1 19 

have clung much longer to the plan than some of her 
neighbors, though a few schools organized on the in- 
dividual plan lingered late, even in the heart of Prussia. 
In 1843 there were still 5,844 primary schools in 
France conducted in this way. 



A. Characteristic Features. 

1. The master conducted and taught the whole 
school himself, if of moderate size, or a division 
where the school was too large for single manage- 
ment. 

2. He remained at his desk, or rostrum, and called 
up the pupils, one by one, to repeat the lesson learned, 
or to receive any help or explanation needed. Much 
time was frequently taken up in the examination of 
"home work. The teaching or questioning was directed 
to each pupil alone, the rest of the children not par- 
ticipating in any way in the work. In time a modi- 
fication was introduced in most cases, a whole class 
being called up and the pupils taken in turn. Even 
here, however, there was no 'class teaching,' as we 
understand the term. 

3. For the ordinary work the boys were seated in 
desks, each having a particular place either in order 
of merit or arbitrarily assigned to him, and working 
quite independently of his fellows. 

4. The great prominence given to memorizing of 
work, often without the slightest accompanying 
explanation, was at all times a marked element of 
system. 

5. No use was ever made of the black-board, and 
there was in almost all instances an entire absence of 
apparatus. 



120 Organization. 



b. Advantages. 

1. As the teacher directed his instruction to one 
boy at a time, this could be exactly suited to his 
requirements and capability ; attention could be 
concentrated upon the exact difficulty in hand ; un- 
necessary explanation could be avoided ; and while 
the teaching lasted, the boy could be made to do his 
utmost. 

2. With respect to the discipline the teacher 
could, so far as individual shortcomings were con- 
cerned, precisely suit his exactions and punishments 
to the habits, temper, and intelligence of the indi- 
vidual. 

3. With a good teacher the work done by the 
boy was thorough and real as far as it went. 

4. The system favored the formation of habits of 
self-reliance and independent effort, patient perse- 
verance, and courageous attack of difficulties. The 
boy was compelled to depend largely upon himself,, 
and to appeal to the teacher only in case of emergency. 
This was so far a valuable training, not only for school 
but for after life. It made boys manly, it accus- 
tomed them to the use of their own strength, and 
it fostered the growth of originality and decision of 
character, of thought, and of speech. There was an 
entire absence of the dead level of tone and effort so 
common in schools now. 

5. Lastly, as the boy was accustomed to work 
much by himself there was little difficulty in the way 
of his doing a large share of home lessons. These 
could be proportioned to the boy's power, and the 
chances of escape were small. 



Systems of Organization. 121 

c. Defects. 

1. Each influx of scholars made the work in- 
creasingly difficult, so that the more popular and 
well attended a school became, beyond a certain 
point, the less likely was it to be efficient in the way 
of instruction, and the more unsatisfactory the char- 
acter of its discipline. The teacher had less and less 
time to give to each pupil, and less to spare to general 
supervision, so that the thoroughness of the work 
done by the school was in inverse proportion to the 
extent of the school's usefulness. Small schools, or 
the employment of ushers, was a necessity. The 
system was therefore an expensive one and ill suited 
to ' schools for the people.' 

2. The master's time, strength, and talents were 
not economized. A large portion of his time was 
taken up in the merely mechanical work of hearing 
tasks. This was not only uninteresting, but added 
much to the drudgery. Often the same difficulty 
had to be solved, the same mistake corrected, the 
same explanation given, over and over again to 
different boys, where with class teaching once would 
have sufficed ; and this seems to have obtained not 
only in England, but in France and other countries 
of the continent. In addition also to this waste of 
labor., the distractions were numerous and wearying ; 
pupils coming ' to inquire a word they cannot make 
out, to complain of a neighbor, to crave leave out* 
to ask what they are to do next, to show a copy or 
cast an account, or beg a new sum to work/ and so- 
on until school became a place of torment. 



122 Organ ization . 

3. As so large a portion of time and labor was 
spent in getting up tasks, and the master's attention 
was much occupied with individuals, little useful 
supervision was exercised over the rest, who, being 
left largely to their own devices, trifled, played 
tricks and underhand games, were ever on the watch 
for opportunities of mischief, and in a word wasted 
much valuable time. 

4. To prevent this a rigid system of harsh punish- 
ments was carried out. The insubordination 'was 
kept down by a very free and frequent use of the 
lash.' How severe the discipline was in some cases 
may be gathered from Jean Paul Richter's account of 
the punishments given by a Suabian school-master. 1 
Small faults and breaches of minor school rules (such 
as talking), not immoral in themselves, were magnified 
into little less than crimes, and the pupil's notions of 
right and wrong thereby confused. The discipline was 
merely the result of personal authority, little or no sym- 
pathy with right was aroused, or respect for law incul- 
cated. The temporary absence of the master was 
generally the signal for a scene of riot and confusion. 
Speaking of the French schools, Willm says, ' There 
generally existed between the instructor and his pre- 
tended pupils the. same relation and sympathy as 
amongst a gang of rebellious slaves and their overseer ; 
with but few exceptions, both master and scholars 
sighed for the moment when the labor of each should 
end. On escaping from school, the greater part of 
the children, shaking off the dust of the blows and 
lessons they had received, rushed back in some meas- 
ure to a state of nature and liberty.' 

5. In class teaching one secret of success is to 

1 See case quoted, p. 359. 



Systems of Organization. 123 

make the quick and intelligent boys a means of bene- 
fiting the rest ; even their mistakes are often useful. 
Stimulated by their example and success, the dull 
ones put forth their best efforts, and frequently astonish 
even themselves. The individual plan forfeited all 
gain of this kind, and there was an entire absence of 
that spirit of class emulation which a good teacher 
knows how to make the most of. The system, in fact, 
favored those who were strong, quick, and industri- 
ously inclined, but depressed and disheartened the 
weak and slow. 

6. The dulness, weariness, and want of spirit and 
variety in the work were very marked ; and except 
while saying lessons, there was no change of posture 
or of place. To-day was but as yesterday, to-morrow 
like to-day ; it was one dull, heavy round of routine. 

II. THE MUTUAL OR MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 

Probably no more violent educational controversy 
ever prevailed than that between the partisans of Bell 
and of Lancaster at the commencement of the present 
century. Both these men claimed to have discovered 
a new method of education, whereby the whole of the 
teaching could be accomplished by the boys mutually 
assisting each other. Both may have been led to their 
plans by accident or experience, but the principle was 
by no means new, and might readily have occurred to 
any teacher who gave any thought to the matter. 

Lycurgus seems, according to Plutarch, to have employed 
it in the education of the Spartan boys, and one may gather 
from the Cyropaedia that a somewhat similar practice ob- 
tained among the ancient Persians. Pietro della Valle, 
travelling in the East in 1623, mentions among the customs 



124 Organization. 

of some Oriental nations the employment of some children 
to teach others as an old device. Comenius (about 1642) 
suggested the arrangement of boys in troops, often called 
decurice, and the appointment over them of some of their fel- 
lows as captains or decuriones, as he names them, to check 
exercises, to report to the master, and to assist in teaching. 1 
In France Herbault employed mutual teaching in his school 
for the destitute, from 1747 to his death ; and it was also 
introduced in 1780 by Chevalier Paulet into an institution, 
for orphans and others, founded by him. In 1798 Pesta- 
lozzi made use of some of the poor children he had gathered 
together at Stanz to assist in the teaching of their comrades, 
but rather for its moral effect in rousing sympathy for others 
than for its value as a teaching device. 

It was in 1791 that Dr. Bell first made use of the 
plan in India, but his scheme was not published in Eng- 
land till 1 797 ; and though introduced into St. Botolph's 
Schools, Aldgate, in the next year, it attracted little 
attention until it was taken up in a modified form 
by Joseph Lancaster. The latter, though he after- 
wards claimed the merit of discovery, acknowledged 
his indebtedness to Bell in several particulars, and 
was certainly after him in point of time. 

As we have seen, the principle was an old one, and had 
no doubt been frequently the outcome of necessity. Bell 
and Lancaster, however, made use of it in a new way and 
with numerous novel accessories. Previous educators had 
suggested or tried its employment as a makeshift, an occa- 
sional device, a supplemetitary plan. Here it was worked 
up into a system, perfect and complete in itself, including 
all that was necessary to the education of the young, and 
intended to be employed exclusively. 

Lancaster's zealous and successful management of his 
school in the Boro' Road made it exceedingly popular, and 
1 See Laurie's Comenius (Kegan Paul, Trench, &Co.), pp. 99 and 101. 



Systems of Organization. 125 

rapidly attracted the attention of the public to the plan up- 
on which it was worked. It was said 1,000 children could be 
taught by one master, and this with little expense. The plan 
seemed the solution of the whole question of the education 
of the poor, the greatest enthusiasm was excited and rapidly 
extended, not only in England but throughout Europe. 

Bell and Lancaster were at first inclined to be friendly, 
but were soon set against each other by the action of a well- 
meaning but somewhat bigoted and misguided lady — Mrs. 
Trimmer. In a short time the whole country was ablaze 
with a controversy which was at bottom in a great measure 
of a religious character. The Church party ranged itself on 
the side of Bell, the Dissenters supported Lancaster, and 
for some time there raged a furious party warfare. 

The Madras system, as Bell called his scheme, continued 
to make steady progress ; and many schools were also found- 
ed on the model of its rival. Lancaster's pecuniary affairs 
becoming involved at the Boro' Road there seemed some 
prospect of the collapse of the school, when a committee 
of gentlemen took the management into their hands, and 
formed themselves into the Royal Lancasterian Institution 
in 1808. This led the friends of Bell and the Church to 
establish a corresponding Metropolitan Society. In 181 1 the 
latter was transformed into the National Society, and in 1814 
the former became the British and Foreign School Society. 
Schools were rapidly founded in connection with both 
societies, and the system in one or other of its forms shortly 
spread all over the country. 

In some quarters the artificiality of the teaching as 
generally carried on soon became recognized, and in 18 13 
the Edinburgh Sessional School was started. This in its 
main features was patterned on Bell's scheme, but com- 
menced with the avowed aim of cultivating ' the under- 
standings of the pupils,' and of treating them ' as intellectual 
and not as merely mechanical beings.' The school under Mr. 
Wood's management very soon became a great success, and 
many improvements were introduced. Some little time, 



1 26 Organization. 

too, before the foundation of this school, Professor Pillans — 
one of the most enthusiastic, powerful, and enlightened 
advocates of the employment of monitors — introduced the 
plan in a modified form into the Rector's class in the High 
School of Edinburgh, and gradually extended it to the whole 
school with the most marked and satisfactory results. Like 
Mr. Wood Professor Pillans laid great stress on the culti- 
vation of the intelligence. These two cases showed distinct- 
ly how much depended upon the zeal and intelligence of the 
person who superintended the working of the scheme. 

Jeremy Bentham also interested himself greatly in the 
' new instruction scheme,' and in his ' Chrestomathia,' pub- 
lished in 18 16, sketched out a plan for a higher school on 
Bell's system, and laid down the principles which he con- 
sidered should guide it. 

Scotland had an organized scheme of education of its 
own more than a century old, and hence, except in a few 
well-marked instances, the system was coldly received in 
that country. It met with more success, however, in Ireland, 
and in 1833 was introduced into the Dublin Model Schools. 
In America it was at first eagerly taken up, especially in 
New York, where it continued to prevail for fifty years. It 
was also tried in many other parts of the States, but was 
soon condemned by the New England educationists as un- 
satisfactory. The plan had an early trial in Holland, but 
was, after some experience of its working, condemned in 
no measured terms, as a system; and in Germany, though 
it was at first taken up with great warmth, it was soon dis- 
carded as a failnre. Victor Cousin says, « in 1836, that he 
had not met with a single schoolmaster in Germany who 
was favorable to the system ; and he was assured by Van 
den Ende that he would not find at that time a single school 
in Holland employing the method. In France it obtained 
some footing, and was at first patronized by Louis Philippe. 
An attempt was even made to introduce it into some of 
the French colonies. It was, however, condemned by 
Cousin ; and after 1835 ^ seems to have rapidly declined, 



Systems of Organization. 127 

until at last it was declared by the French Government to 
be 'the worst of all methods.' 

In Switzerland the monitorial system had the fostering 
care of the enlightened and judicious Pere Girard, and long 
continued useful. It was first introduced into Copenhagen 
in 18 19, and in 1822 was recommended for introduction 
into all the elementary schools of Denmark. It was at first 
much praised, and though strongly condemned by Diester- 
weg on his visit in 1836 it has continued in use in some of 
the schools, with many modifications and improvements, up 
to the present time. In 1824 a new School Order provided 
for the introduction of the Lancasterian system into 
Sweden, and in 1831 there are said to have been 1,800 
schools conducted on this plan. Russia, Spain, and Sardinia 
— even Naples, Tuscany, and Sicily — gave it a trial; but 
it failed to accomplish what was hoped, and has long fallen 
into disuse almost everywhere. 

No system was ever so extravagantly and absurdly 
praised, no discoverers ever perhaps made such outra- 
geous and ridiculous pretensions ; and probably no 
plan ever aroused greater interest, gave so much im- 
petus to the work of education, so rapidly degenerated 
into a cold lifeless formalism, or died out more com- 
pletely. It made an admirable show, it satisfied visi- 
tors, and deceived even its early promoters as to the 
value of the work done. But, at the same time, in 
some hands it certainly did succeed in doing much 
good of its kind, and boys from the best schools were 
much sought after to fill responsible situations. 

The plan bore a variety of names. By Bell it was 
called the Madras system, from its employment of 
boys to teach each other it was termed the Mutual 
system, and perhaps most frequently of all from its 
monitors the Monitorial system. From its founders 
one variety was called the Bell system, the other the 



J 28 Organization. 

Lancasterian system; and these when taken up by the 
two societies came to be generally termed the National 
and the British systems. A ' national ' school, in its 
technical sense, was, therefore, one in connection with 
the National Society ; and in the same way a ' British [ 
school was one organized under the auspices of the 
British and Foreign School Society. 

Under the supervision of these two societies the mutual 
system remained in vogue in England for many years. Its 
cheapness was a great attraction, and it at last became, in 
the minds of many of the promoters of education, identified 
with their idea of schools. When, too, expectations have 
been sanguine, people are in general very unwilling to be 
undeceived. But, as Government grants came to be given, 
and the financial difficulty was no longer the same power- 
ful drawback to improvement it had been, the defects of 
the plan attracted more attention ; the suggestion of the 
Pupil Teacher system showed the way to better things, and 
the monitorial system was at last rapidly given up after 
having been, in England, the great educational feature of 
the first half of this century. 

The system is deserving of careful study from 
many points of view ; more especially as having been 
the forerunner of the Pupil Teacher system, which 
was but a development of it, and which may be looked 
upon as emphatically the English system. The stu- 
dent may also glean from the successes and failures 
of the mutual plan, and from the details of its arrange- 
ments, many valuable hints whose usefulness is by no 
means yet expended. 

Dr. Andrew Bell, 1 the son of Alexander Bell, a barber, 
was born at St. Andrews in 1753. After some very un- 
pleasant school experiences, he matriculated at the Univer- 

1 See Meiklejohn's An old Educational Reformer, and Southey's 
Life of Bell. 



Systems of Organization. 129 

sity of his native place in 1769. Here he made good pro- 
gress, his favorite studies being Natural Philosophy and 
Mathematics. After seven years in America as a private 
tutor he returned to England, was ordained in 1784, and in 
1787 sailed for India. On his arrival in Madras he was 
appointed chaplain to a European regiment, and afterwards 
to the army. Several other offices were added, and part of 
his time Bell spent in lecturing. He is said to have been 
the first man who ever made ice in India. He accepted the 
post of superintendent of the Military Male Orphan Asylum 
(the duties of which he performed gratuitously), and here 
tried his celebrated experiment. A master having refused 
to teach the alphabet by means of writing in sand, Bell 
employed a boy named John Frisken, and the plan suc- 
ceeded so well that very soon the whole school was taught 
by monitors. Bell's health failing he returned to England 
in 1797 ; he had always a wonderful faculty for amassing 
money, and brought with him close upon 30,000/. The 
next year he published his 'Report on the Madras System,' 
but although introduced into several schools it at first made 
little progress. For some years he held the rectory of 
Swanage, in Dorsetshire, and in 1808 was presented with 
the Mastership of Sherburn Hospital. The great contro- 
versy with Lancaster soon brought ' the system ' into no- 
toriety, and after the formation of the National Society 
a central school was started at Holborn Hill, but soon 
removed to Baldwin's Gardens. Bell became a kind of 
organizing inspector for the society, and continued for 
many years to give much time to the founding of schools 
on his plan, and to its extension abroad. 

In 18 16 he made a tour on the Continent, and met 
Pestalozzi at Yverdun. In 18 18 he was presented to a stall 
in Hereford Cathedral, which was exchanged next year for 
one in Westminster Abbey. Bell died in 1832, after much 
worry and exercise of mind as to what he should do with his 
money, amounting to 120,000/., half of which he left to St. 
Andrews, and the remainder to various educational objects. 



] ;o Organization. 



& 



He was a strong-willed, enthusiastic, boastful and narrow- 
minded man ; he was able in business, and parsimonious to 
a degree ; he was filled beyond measure with conceit over 
his ' system,' and ever parading it as a panacea for all edu- 
cational ills. He insisted upon its being swallowed as a 
whole, and any departure from it or improvement was re- 
garded by him as heretical. He was arrogant and over- 
bearing to teachers, by whom he was much disliked ; but 
he must have had a large amount of good in him, for he 
made many firm friends, and was loved by little children 
to whom he was always attractive. His works are wanting 
in clearness, filled with wearisome repetitions, and form the 
very driest of reading. 

Joseph Lancaster 1 was the son of a soldier who had 
seen service in the American war, and was born in 1778, in 
Southwark. Moved by Clarkson's ' Essay on the Slave 
Trade,' he ran away from home at the age of fourteen with 
the idea of proceeding to Jamaica to teach the blacks to 
read the Bible. He was sent back, however, by the captain 
of the vessel, and at sixteen became a Quaker. Four years 
later, stirred by the educational condition of the poor around 
his home, he obtained a room from his father, at his house 
in the Boro' Road, and started a small school. He some- 
times even provided the poorer children with dinner gratis. 
He possessed great power of influencing and controlling 
children, and his school became so successful as to render 
the teaching a very difficult matter. He now adopted the 
1 mutual ' device, and in 1801, by the aid of some benevolent 
subscribers, moved to larger premises on the site of the 
present Boro' Road Training College, and opposite his first 
school. Many friends interested themselves in his work, 
especially the Duke of Bedford and Lord Somerville, and 
his school rapidly became celebrated. In 1805 he was hon- 
ored by an audience of George III., who expressed himself 
much pleased with the work. He also published his ' Im- 
provements in Education.' 

1 See Leitch's Practical Educationists, and Life of Lancaster^ by 
Corston. 



Systems of Organization. 131 

Lancaster, however, seems to have had no capacity for 
managing money, and in 1808, as previously noted, the 
friends who formed themselves into the Royal Lancasterian 
Institution took the control of the Boro' Road school into 
their hands. He now spent much time in lecturing on his 
system through the country and aiding the formation of 
schools on his plan. At length he quarrelled with his friends 
at the Boro' Road over his reckless expenditure of money, 
and in 18 12 withdrew himself to a small private school at 
Tooting. The enterprise failed, however, his difficulties 
and his debts increased, and he finally became insolvent. 

In 18 18 he emigrated to America. He was well received,, 
and went about lecturing and teaching. In 1829 he visited 
Canada, and received several Government grants for edu- 
cational purposes. But his want of business capacity clung 
to him, and these later years seem to have been mostly 
sad. A small annuity was at last purchased for him, and 
he died in New York, Oct. 1838 ; it is said from the effects 
of an accident in the streets. 

He was visionary, eccentric, irritable, restive under con- 
trol, and, like Bell, filled with the idea that his plan provided 
the only scheme needed for the education of all future ages. 
That he was a simple, benevolent, right-meaning, earnest 
man is also clear; but he seems to have lacked even ordi- 
nary business prudence, and passed most of his time in debt. 

A. Characteristic Features. 

1. The essential feature of the mutual system was 
of course the division of the children into a number 
of separate parts, and the instruction of each of these 
by means of its most advanced members or of those 
chosen from some higher section. These scholar- 
teachers were changed from time to time, and spent 
part of their time in teaching and part in learning. 
This certainly promised to be a great improvement on 



132 Organization. 

the ' individuar plan. ' Instead,' says Professor Pillans, 
' of one great and almost overwhelming current being 
directed at long intervals on a limited portion of soil, 
while the rest is left dry, it is conveyed and circulated 
in smaller but more fertilizing streams, numerous 
enough to ketp the entire surface at all times in the 
most wholesome and productive state.' 

2. The graduated arrangement of officers was at 
first marked by much elaboration. Bell distinguished 
his he'.pers as tutors, assistants, teachers, ushers, and 
sub-usners ; Lancaster had head monitors, monitors of 
order, monitors of drafts, and inspectors. Both groups 
consisted really of two kinds — (1) scholar-teachers, (2) 
order-keepers. When the plans settled down into 
regular working order two boys were placed to each 
of Bell's classes — one to teach, and the other to look 
after attention, behavior, &c. ; while one monitor alone 
was responsible for the teaching and management 
of each of Lancaster's small drafts. Bell preferred 
the best boys — Lancaster thought it often advisable 
to employ the mischievous. 

3. The master's peculiar business was general 
inspection and direction. It was his duty to arrange 
work, give instructions how to proceed, solve difficul- 
ties, examine the classes, &c. With Bell he was simply 
a kind of educational engine-driver ; his influence was 
to be felt through the monitors. ' From his place,' 
says the doctor, 'he overlooks the whole school and 
gives life and motion to every member of it. He 
inspects the classes one by one, and is occupied 
wherever there is most occasion for his services, and 
where they will best tell.' ' It is his chief business to 
see that others work rather than work himself.' This 
was early felt to be a great mistake, and in the 



Systems of Organization. 133 

Edinburgh Sessional School it was insisted that the 
master should ' seldom or never be found in his desk, 
but always on the floor among his pupils, and almost 
always in the act of teaching.' It was always held too 
by the most enlightened advocates of the system, 
that it was an essential part of the master's duty to 
instruct the monitors out of school hours, and prepare 
them as far as possible for their work. This was 
forcibly laid down by Wood, Pillans, and Pere Girard. 1 
4. A large use was made of promotion and degra- 
dation, praise and blame, rewards, and drill ; and much 
weight was attached to the principle of emulation, 
variety of work, a good public opinion, and esprit 
de corps. Place-taking was a prominent feature in 
both varieties of the system. ' The first and grand law 
of the new school is,' writes Bell, * that every scholar, 
by a perpetual and generous competition with his 
fellows, finds for himself his level, and increasingly 
rises and falls in his place in the class, and in the 
ranks of the school, according to his relative attain- 
ments.' Both Bell and Lancaster disliked flogging, 
and did all they could to abolish it. Bell would 
depend largely upon deprivation, Lancaster on ridi- 
cule ; the punishments, however, of the latter were 
often of the most grotesque and objectionable kind 
— wooden logs, shackles, suspension from the ceiling 
in sacks or baskets, the 'caravan,' the 'bashaw of 
three tails,' decoration with matches or ballads, labels 
of disgrace, &c. Bell insisted upon the careful keeping 

1 In 1845 the teachers had come generally to recognize that teaching 
was an essential part of their work, and the Rev. F. C. Cook reports, 
1 Now teachers are universally anxious to convince inquirers that they 
are constantly engaged in the work of instruction, in hearing the chil- 
dren read, or in questioning them on their progress, and that they take 
the work as much as possible out of the hands of the monitors.' 



1 3 4 Organization . 

of a daily comparative proficiency register, with a 
weekly summary, and a tabulated statement entered 
monthly in another register, which in his fanciful way 
he called a ' Paidometer.' He also advised a register 
of offences, or ' black-book.' Lancaster had an elabo- 
rate scheme of medals, orders of merit, badges, tickets, 
&c. He made a very excessive use of rewards. ' It 
is no unusual thing/ he says, ' with me, to deliver one 
or two hundred prizes at the same time.' 1 

5. Both propounders thought the rectangular shape 
best for a schoolroom, and both had a raised plat- 
form from which the master could overlook the work. 
The arrangement of the room, however, was very dif- 
ferent. Bell's schools had a single desk running round 
the sides, at which the boys sat facing the wall, the 
floor being portioned out into hollow squares. Half 
the children were occupied with the same work at the 
same time. In the Lancasterian schools the desks 
were arranged parallel down the middle of the school, 
the boys facing the master's platform, while gangways 
and spaces for semicircles (called by Lancaster * read- 
ing stations ') were left round the walls. All the boys 
were put to similar work at once. 

6. Bell's followers preferred, with the doctor, large 
classes, so long as they were manageable — under suit- 
able circumstances of thirty to thirty-six children. 
The advantages claimed were — fewer monitors were 
needed, which gave greater choice ; those could be 
selected who were best fitted for the posts ; more 
spirit, interest, and animation were infused into the 
teaching ; and there was much less uproar. Lan- 
caster's disciples contended for drafts of not more 
than nine or ten. This arrangement, it was urged, 

1 See Improvements in Education. 



Systems of Organization. 135 

gave each child a greatly increased amount of practice, 
rendered control by the monitor easier, and afforded 
a more graduated classification ; but at the same time 
it allowed less variety of work and increased the noise. 

7. Great importance was attached to what has 
been called the 'perpetual exercise principle/ and this 
was certainly one of the best features of the system. 
Both advocates felt that the constant employment of 
the children was an essential condition of success, and 
laid much stress upon keeping up the attention with- 
out weariness. The pupils were to do everything for 
themselves; no time was to be allowed them for mis- 
chief ; and the lessons were to be definite, within their 
powers, gradually progressive, short, and repeated till 
thoroughly known. 

8. In the national schools distinctive religious 
teaching was given, in accordance with the tenets of 
the Church of England ; in the British schools the 
Bible was read without note or comment, though this 
has been frequently modified. One of the fundamental 
rules of the British and Foreign School Society was 
that their schools should ' be open to the children of 
all denominations without distinction, and that no 
catechism peculiar to any religious sect should be 
taught in them.' 

9. Bell advocated the employment of what Ben- 
tham calls the ' scholar-jury principle,' that is, of try- 
ing a boy for grave offences, recorded in the black- 
book, by a jury of his peers. He says he always found 
it work well. 

b. Advantages. 

1. The constant active and cheerful employment 
of the scholars reduced to them the tedium of school 



1 36 Organization. 

work : the idleness of the old system vanished ; the 
excitement and emulation gave an interest to employ- 
ment which prevented fatigue; and they soon gained 
a liking for the work, which predisposed them to 
regular attendance, and placed the acquisition of 
knowledge in a pleasant light. 

2. It promoted habits of industry, regular work, 
attention, and quick and accurate observation, in the 
children ; it disciplined them to order and prompt 
obedience ; it furnished a rapid and certain means of 
detecting shortcoming or wrong-doing ; it very 
greatly diminished the necessity for punishment, and 
afforded the means of establishing a good public 
opinion in schools. 

3. It distributed, simplified, and graduated the 
work ; it gave the child a far greater amount of 
practice than was before possible ; it varied his em- 
ployments, and recognized the necessity of change of 
posture and of place ; it expedited the process of 
learning all that was considered necessary in the 
schools for the poor, and secured instruction for large 
numbers of children who otherwise would have been 
neglected. 

4. It relieved the master from the strain, worry, and 
disgust consequent upon the attempt to keep a large 
number of children employed unaided. It reduced 
the irksomeness of school keeping — the drudgery of 
hearing tasks, and the monotony of teaching the mere 
rudiments ; it left him free to give his attention more 
particularly to the advanced boys, where his teaching 
would best tell ; and it tended to prevent that lack of 
cheerfulness, that irritability and want of evenness of 
temper, which act so prejudicially on a school. 



Systems of Organization. 137 

5. The economy with which the work could be 
carried on cheapened education, and enabled it to be 
placed far more generally within the reach of the 
poorer classes. Large schools became possible, one 
master being able to manage successfully ten times as 
many children as before. Increase, up to a certain 
point, in the number of scholars made little difference 
to the efficiency of the work. 

6. Many intelligent and observant educators have 
borne witness to the fact, that in certain particulars 
monitors after some little practice are better teachers 
than adults. By a keen intellectual sympathy they 
recognize how the child's mind is working, and thus 
seize at once upon the nature of an opposing difficulty ; 
they are often more fertile in expedients, and more 
successful in suiting their modes of expression to the 
understanding of the pupil ; and lastly, they are less 
liable than an older teacher to be irritated by the 
slowness or stupidity of the scholar. 

7. It was also claimed that by teaching what they 
knew the monitors fixed it more firmly in their own 
minds, and were stimulated to know more ; that the 
system afforded them a valuable training in careful- 
ness, judgment, decision, steadiness, helpfulness, and 
general trustworthiness ; that they were more amen- 
able to discipline, more tractable and painstakings 
more easily moulded to suit the master's ways and 
plans, and much less liable to feel the work a drudg- 
ery, than hired assistants. 

8. The monitorial scheme led to the recognition 
of the necessity of systematizing school work, and it 
aroused discussion and set men's minds working upon 
the subject of education. 



138 Orga n ization. 



c. Defects. 

1. Perhaps the most serious defect of the mutual 
plan was the automaton-like nature, the artificiality 
and often superficiality, of the work — the absence of 
intellectual training, the inordinate love of system and 
elaboration, and the tendency to overrate word knowl- 
edge or mere mechanical dexterity. It was a scheme 
of employment rather than of education, and lent it- 
self very readily to lifeless routine and vain repetition. 
The range of subjects was narrow, and many of the 
lessons were mere exercises in memorizing, or blind 
application of rules. The outward show of work 
was a source of delusion as to the value and amount 
of instruction, both to the teacher and to the parents. 
Non-intelligent imitation took the place of useful self- 
effort, and it was found that the children very rapidly 
forgot what they had acquired, even their reading. 

2. The system gave numerous opportunities for 
abuse ; and though many of the faults were not in- 
herent, they were scarcely separable from the working 
of the plan under average conditions. The mischievous 
idea that the master was simply to see the teaching 
done robbed his work and influence of more than half 
their value. It went against the principle 'know 
your scholars.' No provision was made for the master 
knowing anything of individuals first hand, but only 
by report ; of their real characters or nature he knew 
nothing. The complete unsuitability of many of the 
masters for their work and their defective understand- 
ing of its requirements, their satisfaction with mere 
external trappings, their lack of insight and of proper 
supervision and control, proved a fruitful source of 



Systems of Organization. 139 

failure, and probably led as much as anything to the 
disgrace and downfall of the scheme. No doubt 
where the teacher was zealous, conscientious, and in- 
telligent, and above the average in judgment and in- 
ventive skill, the system answered its purpose ; but 
with average teachers, performing their work in a per- 
functory spirit, it rapidly fell away into all sorts of 
sham and weakness. 

3. Another grave objection lay in the very numer- 
ous train of evils, frequently, if not generally, found 
to be present in connection with the monitors ; their 
incompetency and want of preparation, the lack of 
unity and connection in their work, their petty 
tyranny, abuse of power, acceptance of bribes, tale- 
bearing, &c. Dr. Biber speaks of it as 'a system 
calculated to foster at the same time two of the basest 
feelings of the human bosom — despotism and servility.' 
Even under the most favorable circumstances the 
work of the monitors was fagging and monotonous, 
and there was a want of moral weight in their control. 
The position was an exceedingly trying one for them, 
and a considerable amount of caprice and favoritism 
could scarcely fail to be present. 

4. It was often impossible to find monitors whose 
faithfulness, industry and probity could be relied upon ; 
and who possessed sufficient skill to be useful as 
teachers. Too much also was generally expected from 
them, and no balance was maintained between their 
work as teachers and that as learners. A good school 
might be maintained in fair efficiency, but when it had 
once deteriorated, the difficulties of improvement were 
vastly increased. An inefficient school, or one just 
started, with undisciplined ignorant children, furnished 
no monitors fit for the work, and hence was little likely 



140 Organization. 

to progress without the most unwearying efforts on the 
part of the master. Girls, too, were frequently found 
to be unsuited to the work, and in some cases boys 
had to be employed as monitors in girls' schools. 

5. The system was never a popular one with the 
great body of parents. On the one hand, they failed 
to see that the work as a monitor did the boy any good, 
and hence looked upon it as waste time ; on the other, 
they objected to their children being taught by other 
children, as though the master were neglecting his 
duties. 

6. Lastly, it was urged that the inseparable noise 
and confusion — ' the confused uproar of exclamation 
and motley medley of vociferations,' as it has been 
called — was a great source of distraction, and did 
much to destroy any useful study. 



III. COLLECTIVE SYSTEMS. 

By the term 'collective ' is meant the gathering of 
the children into large groups, and the direction of the 
instruction by an adult or trained teacher to the 
whole group, ftvefy member of which took part in the 
work at the same time. The most marked varieties 
of this plan are the ' Training system,' the so-called 
' Simultaneous system,' and the ' German class-room 
system.' 

(1) The Training System. 

This system was originated and established by 
David Stow, who did not claim for it so much the 
merit of a new discovery, as of a successful attempt 
to combine the good features from other plans and 
profit by the lessons of experience they taught. 
By Stow himself it was called the Training system t 



Systems of Organization. 141 

from the place of its first employment it became 
known as the Glasgow system, from its insistence on 
the use of the gallery it has often been spoken of as 
the Gallery system, and from its originator it is some- 
times denominated the Stow system. It was adopted 
in many Scotch schools, and tried in scattered in- 
stances in America and on the continent In nearly 
all the numerous schools of the Wesleyans, too, it 
was definitely followed in all its main features. 

After 1839 tne Wesleyan schools were modelled upon 
Stow's scheme, and in essential particulars they remain so 
still. From the date just mentioned, until the opening of the 
Wesleyan Training College in 185 1, all the Wesleyan teach- 
ers were trained at the Glasgow Free Church Normal Col- 
lege, under the management of Stow. 

The effects of the system, however, are not to be judged 
by the extent of its employment as a whole, or by the fre- 
quent adoption of its external arrangements ; but from the 
fact that all succeeding plans have been largely modified 
by it, and that many of their best features are but adapta- 
tions from it 

Its influence upon true education has been a whole- 
some and a lasting one. It did valuable service in 
calling attention to the need of something further than 
the means of giving mere information — the necessity 
of training or cultivating both the intellectual and the 
moral nature of the child. No doubt to it also belongs 
the idea of graded schools, which have been so exten- 
sively adopted in America, and have recently begun 
to multiply in England. 

David Stow 1 was born in 1793 at Paisley, and received 
his early education in the Grammar School of that town. 
In 181 1 he entered a large business house in Glasgow. 

1 See Le itch's Practical Educationists. 



142 Organization. 

Like Lancaster and Raikes, he was moved by the vice and 
ignorance of the poor he saw daily around him, and this led 
him to devote much of his spare time to bettering their 
condition. He at first established a small sabbath school 
in a room in the Saltmarket, and sought out the children in 
their homes. His discouragements at first were numerous 
but his patience and perseverance were great, and he con- 
tinued the work with many vicissitudes for ten years. 

During this time he was gradually trying experiment" 
and evolving many of the features of his system of training. 
In 1826, feeling that the sabbath school influence was de- 
stroyed by the week-day evils, he established a ' week-day 
normal training school ' for 100 scholars under six years of 
age, as a model for others. Three years later another school 
was added for children from six to fourteen, with class rooms 
for normal students who wished to learn the system. The 
training of the teachers was always strongly insisted on by 
Stow, and no doubt we owe much to him in this direction. 
The Glasgow Educational Society interested itself greatly 
in his work, and many means were taken to extend the 
knowledge of his scheme ; among others a travelling model 
class with master and mistress to exemplify its working. 
The most important result, however, of the interest aroused 
was the foundation of the Normal School for training teach- 
ers in Dundas Vale, Glasgow. It was finished in 1838, the 
schools previously established removed to \t, and the sys- 
tem carried on under the guidance and control of Stow 
himself. Here he introduced the plan of ' criticism lessons,' 
now so common in all training colleges. In 1848 he was 
compelled to resign the Dundas Vale school to the General 
Assembly of the Church of Scotland ; and teachers, students^ 
and children removed to the Glasgow Free Church Nor- 
mal School in Cowcaddens. Over this institution Stow 
continued to preside up to the time of his death, which 
took place in 1864. The various devices of teaching and 
training on which Stow insists are fully described in his 
% Training System and Normal Seminary.' 



Systems of Organization. 143 



A. Characteristic Features. 

1. Stow insisted strongly and persistently on the 
influence of the master upon the children being direct 
and continuous. Where the numbers admitted of it 
(and the system was intended to apply more particu- 
larly to town districts) the children were divided into 
three departments or grades, each with a separate 
room and teacher — infants, from five to seven years 
of age ; juveniles, from seven to ten ; seniors, from ten 
to thirteen or over. It was felt that more children 
could be taught together where they were graded, as 
being more nearly alike in age and progress ; but if 
the group was still too large, the grade could be 
divided into any requisite number of sections, each 
with a teacher and room of its own. The use of 
monitors as teachers was condemned, though they 
were occasionally employed for merely mechanical 
labors. 

2. It was further thought to be of great advantage 
for both sexes to work together, and hence all the 
schools were mixed. ' It is impossible,' says Stow, 
'to raise girls intellectually as high without boys as 
with them ; and it is impossible to raise boys morally 
as high without the presence of girls. The girls 
morally elevate the boys, and the boys intellectually 
elevate the girls.' 

3. Another feature to which great importance was 
attached was the recognition of the sympathy of num- 
bers, and its employment as an aid. This was called 
by Stow the oil-spring of the system. By it he seems 
to mean the force of public opinion among the chil- 
dren, together with a subtle influence arising from 



i 44 Organ ization. 

unity of feeling or action, the whole operating through 
sympathy or imitation to strengthen this or that line 
of conduct. ' Sympathy/ he says, ' is a principle of 
our nature which may be directed to good or evil, and 
is more or less powerful in proportion to the prox- 
imity and concentration of numbers. . . . There is a 
power therefore in numbers not experienced in indi- 
vidual teaching or training ; and the playground and 
gallery conjoined under proper management and 
superintendence afford the most perfect sympathy.' 
It acts in a right or wrong direction, ' according as 
the children are, or are not properly superintended 
and trained by the master.' 

4. The great characteristic, however, towards 
which all the other features were made to tend, was 
the very particular atce.ition paid to the distinct and 
thorough training or education of the whole nature of 
the child. He was no longer to be a mere learner, 
but to so partake in the work that every faculty — 
mental, moral, and physical — might be strengthened 
by practice. Training meant with Stow actual exer- 
cise in the thing required, until it was easily and well 
performed. 

He was exceedingly anxious to raise by means of edu- 
cation what he called the * sunken ' and ' sinking ' classes ; 
and, consequently, the central idea of his system was the 
moral training. Special Bible training lessons were given, 
as were also moral lessons founded on observations of the 
children's faults or virtues as exhibited in the playground 
and the school. Precepts were not discarded ; but the act- 
ual carrying out of these into practice was considered the 
essential thing. ' In the moral department, ' says the au- 
thor, 'storing the mind with Scripture texts is teaching or in- 
struction — seeing that the child practically does the things 



Systems of Organization. 145 

as they are required in real life, renders the process train- 
ing.' To train the intellect frequent and special object 
lessons were given with the aid of various devices to be 
noted shortly. The body was to be cared for by physical 
exercises in school, and by the provision of apparatus and 
the encouragement of games in the playground. 

5. As a large number of children were to be 
taught together, it became very necessary that some 
means should be adopted whereby the teacher could 
see every child and every child see him. This led to 
the use of the large gallery placed at one end of the 
school, which was considered an indispensable part 
of the machinery. Here the children received the 
main part of their instruction, being only occasionally 
brought down to a few desks on the floor for writing 
or slate arithmetic. 

'The gallery enables the trainer with more regularity and 
precision to conduct the physical exercises, which are re- 
quisite according to the age of the pupils, whereby the atten- 
tion may be arrested and secured. It enables the master 
and scholars to fix their eye more easily upon each other 
while he is presenting an object, or during the process of 
picturing out any point of a subject, and also while he is 
deducing the lesson. Every word spoken is more easily 
heard by all — individual, but more particularly, simultaneous 
answers are more readily obtained — order is promoted, and 
instant obedience and fixed attention are more certainly 
secured than when children are placed at desks, on level 
forms, in semicircles or in squares. ' 

6. Great stress was also laid upon the use of the 
playground, or, as Stow calls it, the uncovered school- 
room, not only on account of che benefit from the 
physical exercises undergone, tne games and occupa- 
tions engaged in, but principally because it gave the 



1 46 Organization. 

master opportunities of watching his little world when 
it was free from restraint — of learning the true char- 
acters and dispositions of the children ; and of 
making his observations, wherever any worthy of 
remark occurred, the basis of the succeeding gallery 
lesson. It was considered of the greatest impor- 
tance that the master should be present in the play- 
ground with the children. 

* Any case of oppression or dishonesty, or particular act 
of generosity, or disinterestedness, is on the return to the 
gallery taken up by the master and thoroughly investigated, 
and condemned or applauded before the whole of the 
scholars, or rather simultaneously with the whole of the 
scholars, they sitting in a sense both as judges and jury. ' 
This connection of the playground and the gallery was held 
to be of the greatest service. 

7. One of the chief agencies made use of in teach- 
ing was vivid word-painting ox picturing out. 'This/ 
says Stow, ' is a fundamental principle of the system 

intellectually Before a child has a thorough 

understanding of a word or point of a subject, the 
simple elements of the terms used must be present to 
the mind's eye ; and under this system, whatever the 
school exercise may be, secular, sacred, or elementary, 
4 picturing out ' ought uniformly to be adopted, both 
in the broad outlines and in the minute points of 
every lesson.' 

8. A very extended use was made of simultaneous 
utterance, both for reading and for answering questions. 
In connection with this a device much insisted upon 
was the use of ellipses. As in the large proportion of 
cases the children answered together, the continuous 
use of ordinary questions was difficult. The pupils 
having to think of the ideas required, and the words 



Systems of Organization. 147 

by which to express them, naturally gave very con- 
fused replies, unless the answers required were easy. 
An ellipsis gave a ready means of extending simul- 
taneous utterance, by supplying the framework of the 
answer, and leaving the children to fix their attention 
mainly on the idea required. Ellipses, however, were 
not to be used alone but to be uniformly mixed with 
questions. 

B. Advantages. 

1. The system, as framed, was an eminently 
educative one ; no part of the child was to be neg- 
lected, and he was to be made as happy as possible. 
It was the means in many cases of introducing into 
schools a higher, nobler, and more complete ideal of 
the work, than was then commonly recognized. 

2. Perhaps no single merit could be more justly 
claimed for the system, or would be more readily 
allowed, than the very great attention given to moral 
training, and the general excellence of the disciplinary 
measures — the earnest endeavor to form good habits 
in children, to make them feel their responsibility, to 
equip them for the fulfilment of their duties in life. 
And this was done without violent measures of any 
kind. Stow says he made it a rule never to strike, 
never to expel. The children were always directly 
under the master's eye and influence, and hence were 
more easily controlled. 

3. A corresponding advantage was the develop- 
ment of the children's intelligence by special lessons 
arranged for this purpose, and taught by a skilled 
teacher. 

4. The importance attached to the playground — 
th^ manifestation of its disciplinary value, as well as 



1 48 Organization. 

the encouragement given to healthy play — was a 
distinct gain to education. 

5. The use made of the ' sympathy of numbers/ 
again, was not only the recognition of a principle of 
far-reaching importance to the teacher, but rendered 
it clear how it could be employed as an aid of con- 
si ierabie power in the work. 

6. Further, the employment of the gallery for 
oral lessons, the use of ellipses, and the picturing out 
method, were all valuable additions to the means at 
the teacher's disposal for rendering the work of the 
school efficient. 

7. Lastly, the system was an economical one, both 
as to laborers and funds. The teacher's office was 
magnified above that of a mere instructor, and the 
necessity for the definite training of the teacher for 
his work was strongly insisted upon. 

C Defects. 

1. In order that it might be carried out effectively 
the system necessitated a complete set of graded 
schools, and this was possible only in town districts, 
or where combination for school provision waj 
feasible. It was not suited for general adoption in 
country places. In single schools the children were 
not well matched either as to age or acquirement, 
and it was impossible for the teaching to be ap- 
propriate to all at the same time. To reach the 
success claimed for it, it was necessary that all chil- 
dren should have equal power of learning, and be 
equally regular in attendance ; in fact that there 
should be a uniformity of conditions which did not 
exist. 



Systems of Organization. 149 

2. Another objection of much weight was that 
the system was too general, that the child's individ- 
uality was far too much sunk out of sight — partic- 
ular needs and difficulties, except in the matter of 
conduct, being left uncared for. The plan did not 
recognize the necessity of dealing with children in 
many departments of their work one by one. It as- 
sumed that the same treatment was good for all in 
all things ; that every child's mind and heart could 
be reached by the same means. 

3. The system again attached too exclusive a 
value to the efforts of the teacher, and quite insuf- 
ficient importance to the work of the scholar. Too 
much was done for him, and too little by him. The 
idea of training — so valuable in its way — seems to 
have run away with the originator of the plan, and 
made him forget how very necessary it is that this 
should be associated with a proper proportion of 
sound information. Where skill rather than knowl- 
edge was required — as in reading, writing, and arith- 
metic — the system to a large extent failed. It was 
in fact, both in spirit and in teaching expedients, 
an infant school method. As such it was in many 
respects excellent, but it was less suited to schools 
for older children, and its defects were more and 
more apparent as the age and acquirements of the 
scholars increased. 

4. The use made of simultaneous utterance was 
excessive. A large number of children on a gallery 
all answering together was doubtless a striking figure 
— it made a great show of work, but was fre- 
quently very far from being what it seemed. The 
majority of the pupils, instead of thinking for them- 
selves, listlessly caught up, as it were by a kind of 



150 Organization. 

instinct, what was being said by a few leaders, and 
chimed in so as to completely deceive those who were 
not acquainted with the extent to which children can 
do this, and hence were not on their guard respecting 
it. The gallery work thus soon became very artificial ; 
it developed a monotonous sing-song tone often in 
an unnaturally high key, it damped out anything 
like originality of view, it led the children into certain 
grooves of thought and expression, and, except in 
the case of a few interested ones, fostered a habit of 
intellectual indolence and reliance upon others. It 
afforded the teacher no chance of discovering how 
far his teaching had been grasped, what parts it was 
necessary to repeat, or of what points it was needful 
to give further explanation. 

5. As the methods and devices of teaching were 
exactly laid down, and very undue weight attached 
to the carrying out of these in the way proposed, the 
teacher's skill could expand only in a few definite 
directions. The work lacked variety, and no room 
was left to use the thousand and one little expedients 
which a skilful teacher invents in moments of difficulty, 
to his own great improvement and the benefit of his 
scholars. It thus checked discovery, and prevented 
the growth of that readiness of resource which is of 
such use to the teacher in almost all circumstances. 



(2) The Simultaneous or Class Room 
System. 

The plan of assembling the scholars in a group, 
and addressing the instruction to them as a body, 
must have suggested itself to many educators directly 
the need was recognized of more teaching than could 



Systems of Organization. 1 5 1 

be given, in ordinary circumstances, under the indi- 
vidual system. The merit of origination, however, is 
usually ascribed to Canon Lassalle of Rheims, who 
in 1680, after founding the Society of the Christian 
Brothers, imparted to it this method of carrying on 
school work. Pestalozzi was driven by necessity to 
the same plan. He says : — 

1 Being obliged to instruct the children by myself, with- 
out any assistance, I learnt the art of teaching a great num- 
ber together; and, as I had no other means of bringing the 
instruction before them than that of pronouncing everything 
to them loudly and distinctly, I was naturally led to the idea 
of making them draw, write, and work all at the same time.' 

The system was early employed in Austria, and soon 
became general in Holland and Germany. It was adopted 
also here and there in France from its first introduction. 
After 1840 it began to extend rapidly, and is now in use in 
the majority of French schools. It is also employed in 
many schools in America. The adoption of simultaneous 
instruction would, of course, naturally lead to corresponding 
modifications and inventions in the way of organization, so 
as to carry on the work in the most satisfactory way. As 
nrght be expected, the various schemes of simultaneous 
organization all resemble each other in general features, 
though each local variety has its peculiarities. 

In almost all German schools, and in other parts 
of the continent, the large schoolroom, so common in 
England, is avoided, and a number of small rooms, 
grouped together under one roof, are used instead. 
In many cases, also, in America, though a large 
room exists, it is divided off for work into sepa- 
rate compartments, by sliding partitions. From this 
feature the system is now very frequently spoken of 
as the class room system. 



1 5 2 Organization . 

The principal characteristics of the simultaneous 
system are — classification, founded to a large extent 
on age, into groups of usually forty or fifty ; a skilled 
teacher for each group, and wherever possible a 
separate room also ; the desks arranged in parallel 
lines facing the teacher, and provided in sufficient 
quantity to seat all the children. All the pupils of 
the group receive the same instruction at the same 
time, act in unison in all movements and exercises, 
and retain their seats during lesson time. 

In France the school is usually grouped into three 
divisions, mainly based upon age ; and any children who 
are not included within the limits of this classification are 
placed under the charge of the best pupil in the school. In 
Germany a large amount of uniformity, both of method and 
arrangement, is insisted upon. There is a very strong 
feeling against mixed schools. All the teachers are certifi- 
cated, and all paid fixed salaries. The work is carefully 
graduated and prescribed by official syllabus ; the time 
table is fixed and printed, and special lessons are given to 
train the intelligence. The teaching is usually given from 
a small platform placed in front of the children. Each 
desk is, as a rule, made to seat four pupils ; the desks are 
grouped in lines, and generally seven deep. 

The advantages claimed for the plan are the 
increased amount, better connection, and higher 
character of the work, from its being conducted by 
a trained teacher ; the economy with which the skill 
and labor of the latter are utilized ; the greater 
animation, both of teacher and pupils ; and the use 
made of emulation. 

The method of instructing children simultaneously 
was a reform of great moment ; but it has well-marked 
limits, and when used exclusively, and allowed too 



Systems of Orga?iization. 153 

much weight in matters of organization, it gives rise 
to various defects. The simultaneous system of 
organization, as usually worked, is an expensive one, 
from the number of teachers required ; it is altogether 
unfitted for small schools ; it affords no change of 
place, and little of posture, for the children ; and 
unless much space is to be wasted, it necessitates an 
equality of classification, which is in most cases, at 
least in England, impossible if the children are to be 
well matched as to attainments. 

' Men go hastily to Germany,' says Dr. Rigg, 'and see 
a German school taught only by adult teachers — a teacher 
to each separate class. They see or hear besides that a 
similiar plan is in operation in the expensively appointed 
and efficient schools, which are among the shows of some 
towns in the United States ; and they come to the conclusion 
that modern science is opposed to the employment of pupil 
teachers, and requires that only adult teachers should have 
any charge of children. . . . Where this system succeeds, 
it is under conditions altogether different from those which 
belong to the elementary schools of England.' 



IV. MIXED SYSTEMS. 

The systems previously described contain nearly 
all the special features of organization employed in 
schools. Various ways of combining what seemed to 
be useful characteristics, from some or all of them, have 
been at different times suggested or tried. Of these 
mixed systems only two, combining certain elements 
in a marked way, will be noticed — the Tripartite plan 
and the Pupil Teacher system. 



154 Organization, 

(i) The Tripartite System. 

This was proposed in 1845 by the Rev. Henry 
Moseley, one of H. M. Inspectors of Schools. The 
threefold arrangement which gave it its name was 
suggested to him, he tells us, by the working of the 
Edinburgh Sessional School. He seems to have 
realized very clearly what were the strong points of 
the various systems previously tried, and he en- 
deavored in his plan to arrange these so as to present 
a mode of working which should utilize them all. 
The plan was exceedingly well conceived from a 
theoretical point of view, but it had its defects, and the 
difficulties of working it in practice were found to be 
very great. It was consequently never very widely 
adopted, though a trial was given to it in many 
places, amongst others in the Dublin Model Schools, 
where it is with some modifications still in working, 
in a few of the schools forming the group. It was 
thoroughly sound in principle, and served a most 
useful purpose in turning attention strongly to points 
which it will ever be necessary to aim at. In de- 
scribing it we shall let the originator speak largely 
for himself. 1 

A. General Characteristics. 

1. As the system of graded schools was out of the 
question in most places, the next best thing seemed 
to be to grade the school itself, and let the most 
difficult and important work of each division be done 
by a single skilled teacher — the master — by making 
the sections circulate. This, in connection with the 

1 See Minutes of Committee of Council, 1845, p. 249 et seq. 



Systems of Organization. 155 

idea that an experienced cultivated mind was neces- 
sary to educate children, formed the foundation of the 
plan. 

' To educate children,' says Mr. Moseley, ' the action of 
an enlightened teacher upon them is required, with an indi- 
vidual application to each individual mind. There must 
be the separate contact of the mind of the master with the 
mind of the child ; the separate study of it ; the separate 
ministering to its wants, checking its waywardness, propping 
up, and guiding, and encouraging its first efforts ; building 
it up and establishing it.' ' The first, then,, and essential 
element of it is the separate room for oral instruction, the 
devotion of the labors of the head master chiefly to this 
object (relieved occasionally by the second master or pupil 
teacher, with whom he exchanges duties), and the throwing 
of the children in three great divisions, of fifty or sixty, 
successively into that room for an hour twice a day for 
the purpose of that instruction. Every other element of 
the plan admits of modification, but not that. If that feature 
of it be sacrificed, then the most important results which 
I contemplate from it will, in a great measure, I conceive, 
be lost. It is no longer the plan which I recommend, or 
one from which I anticipate any very decided advantage.' 
Each child was thus brought for a third of the school time 
under the personal influence of the master. 

2. To facilitate the carrying out of the arrange- 
ment the subjects of instruction were grouped into 
three divisions, thus — 

a. ' Those which are properly the subjects of oral 
instruction. 

b. Reading. 

c. Writing, slate arithmetic, drawing, committing 
to memory — being silent occupations.' 

3. For these three subjects separate localities were 
assigned — (1) A separate room, with a gallery, for 



1 56 Organization. 

oral instruction. (2) Desks arranged in groups for 
writing, &c. (3) An open floor-space for reading. 

To give this threefold division of the room various 
plans of school buildings were devised. The princi 
pal forms — shown by many existing schools where 
the system has long been abandoned — were the ob- 
long with a gallery room or class room at the end 
of it, and either forming a continuation or at right 
angles to it ; a longer oblong room across the end of a 
shorter one, the former divided into two by a curtain ; 
and, less frequently, two parallel rooms connected by 
a third at right angles to the middle of each. These 
shapes roughly took the form of certain block letters, 
and may easily be remembered by the word HILT. 

4. Corresponding to these three distinct branches 
of instruction, it was proposed to form the children 
into three equal divisions, and on the termination of 
the morning devotions and the Bible lesson, to let 
each division pass to one of these localities. 

■ Calling the divisions, for instance, L, II., III. ; Divi- 
sion I. will take its place in the gallery for oral instruction, 
Division II. at the desks for writing, &c, and Division III. 
(in subdivisions of from six to ten) upon the floor of the 
schoolroom for instruction in reading ; or in the room set 
apart for that purpose with a gallery, &c, if it be proposed 
to adopt the simultaneous method of teaching reading. 
Now, it will be observed, that there are three hours in the 
morning and, in summer, three hours in the afternoon 
devoted to school business. I suppose the above distri- 
bution of the school to remain during the first of these 
hours. At the expiration of that hour a change takes place ; 
that division which was in the gallery receiving oral in- 
struction passes to the desks for practice in writing, &c. > 
that which was at the desks to the floor of the schoolroom 
for reading ; and that which was reading to the gallery for 



Systems of Organization. 



157 



examination by the head master in that reading lesson, in 
which the whole division has been receiving the instruction 
of the monitors. This arrangement continues during the 
second hour ; and so each division passes in its turn, in the 
course of the morning, under the personal examination and 
oral instruction of the master; each is occupied during an 
hour in writing, slate arithmetic, &c. ; and an hour is devoted 
by each to mechanical instruction in reading.' 

The following time table represents the arrangements 
described : — 



Hours 


I. 


II. 


III. 


9 to IO 


Oral Instruction 


Slate Arithmetic, 
&c. 


Reading 


IO to II 


Slate Arithmetic, 
&c. 


Reading 


Oral Instruction 


II tO 12 


Reading 


Oral Instruction 


Slate Arithmetic, 
&c. 



The school was to be mixed, the boys and girls 
being taught together in the morning ; and both a mas- 
ter and a mistress were to be provided. For schools 
whose average attendance did not exceed 100, this 
was considered enough. For every additional 25 
children it was proposed to employ a pupil-teacher ; 
and if the number exceeded 200, to replace one of 
these at least by an assistant master. 

5. The teachers were to be grouped as follows : — 
a. The Master. — * In all that requires the indepen- 
dent exercise of judgment and discretion in the busi- 
ness of instruction — in all that involves the sanctions 
of religion, and considerations of moral responsibility, 
and thus needs to be presented to the mind of a child 
with the gravity and the authority which can only be 
brought to it by the mind of an adult teacher ; and in 



1 5 8 O rganization. 

all that concerns the development of the judgment 
and intelligence of the child — the direct interference 
of the master in its education is necessary to any use- 
ful result, as well in reference to the youngest child 
in the school as to the oldest.' 

The master, however, was not to be constantly 
occupied in talking. He was to examine and hear 
lessons, and from time to time to require the children 
to write down abstracts of the lessons he had given. 

b. Mistress and Monitors. — The station of the 
mistress was to be the reading room ; the teaching of 
reading being entrusted to the mistress with the mon- 
itors under her care. 

For reading, each of the three divisions of the 
school was to be formed into two sections ; one com- 
posed of as many of the children who were most back- 
ward in their reading as the mistress could herself 
properly instruct in a single class, the other portion 
being broken up into drafts of not more than eight 
children, each placed in charge of a monitor. 

1 The whole of the children of each of the great divisions 
is, when in the reading room, to be occupied in reading the 
same lesson ; and the time-table of the schools is to provide 
that, when the hour allotted to it in the reading room is ex- 
pired, it shall be transferred to the gallery for oral instruc- 
tion by the head-master, such oral instruction always com- 
mencing with an examination upon the reading lesson which 
has preceded — first as to the ability of the children to read 
the lesson accurately ; secondly, as to their intelligence of 
the subject matter of it. If the reading lessons be properly 
selected, they will frequently serve as the foundation of that 
oral instruction of the master, which is to follow this ex- 
amination.' 

In the afternoon the girls were to be taught to sev 



Systems of Organization. 159 

by the mistress in the reading room, the boys being 
formed into three divisions, and occupied as in the 
morning ; * the two divisions employed in oral instruc- 
tion and writing occupying one of the remaining 
rooms, and the other being appropriated to reading, 
under the supervision of the assistant master or the 
pupil teacher.' 

With respect to the use of monitors, Mr. Moseley says, 
1 1 am not prepared to deny that there are certain elements 
in the business of a school, which, being essentially me- 
chanical in their nature, may, under due supervision and 
with proper limitations, be conducted on the principle of 
mutual instruction. Reading, for instance, may, as to its 
mechanical elements, and with a view to that individual 
instruction and mechanical practice which it requires, be 
taught by the aid of monitors — as young even as some of 
those to whom the whole business of instruction is intrusted 
in our existing schools — provided that each reading lesson, 
so given, is checked by a subsequent examination of the 
master ; and that the subdivisions of children placed at any 
time under the instruction of a single monitor do not exceed 
eight, or at the most ten, in number.' 

c. Pupil Teacher, or Assistant Master. — The pupil 
teacher or assistant master was to have charge of the 
writing, practice of arithmetic, drawing, &c, and he 
was from time to time to relieve the head-master. 



b. Advantages. 

1. The most suitable provision was made for both 
giving the necessary information and training the in- 
telligence. While use was made of the simultaneous 
mode of teaching, for subjects to which it was suited, 
the individual side of the work received due attention ; 



i 60 Organization. 

and each teacher had just that work allotted to him, 
which he was best fitted to perform. 

It is characteristic of this plan, says the author, ' that 
providing for those technical branches of instruction, which 
are not only valuable in themselves, but necessary to se- 
cure that public opinion of the parents favorable to the 
school, on which its success must after all depend, it pro- 
vides further for that oral instruction of a more general 
kind which aims at results less tangible, indeed, but the 
highest contemplated in education, and the most valuable ; 
that it extends the benefits of this form of instruction from 
the highest to the meanest and lowest child, and that it 
brings to it the master spirit of the school, and all the 
sanctions with which the authority of the highest office 
can surround it ; that in respect to his own individual part 
in the labor of teaching, it does not leave the master to the 
influence of no other motive than his own sense of duty, or 
that desire for excellence which it is so difficult to preserve 
in a remote and unobserved school, subject as it is to the 
antagonism of those prejudices which, lingering in the public 
mind, too frequently interdict all sympathy in his labors ; 
but that it contemplates a system of instruction in which 
his labors shall constitute an integral part, and prescribes 
the subjects which he shall teach himself, and the times 
when he shall teach them. ' 

2. The certainty and regularity with which each 
scholar was brought under the direct influence and 
teaching of the master was a great gain. 

3. It secured relief to the children by the variety 
of work, of teachers, and by the changes of locality 
and posture. 

4. It arranged for the regular inspection and 
examination by the master of every subject taught in 
the school. 

5. It provided, for the tedious and difficult task of 



Systems of Organization. 161 

teaching to read, the services of an adult teacher (the 
mistress), who was supposed to employ the assist- 
ance of monitors only in respect to those children 
whom she was unable to teach herself. 

6. Lastly, it assured i to the girls (to whom it is at 
least as necessary as to the boys) the highest order of 
instruction' which the school could supply; and it 
enabled 'the master to employ the services of his 
wife in the business of the school.' 



c. Defects. 

1. The system took too little account of the 
strength of the master. The activity both of bod] 
and mind necessary to successful oral teaching is o f 
the most exhausting character, and it was found tha I 
he was unable to bear the strain of continued effort, c f 
the kind contemplated, for any great length of time, 

2. The lack of variety in the work of all tlni 
teachers, and the monotony and mechanical nature nf 
it in the case of some, confined as they were, to a 
very large extent, to one kind of duty, told injuri- 
ously on the teaching. Not only did it destroy 
interest, but it prevented the proper growth of the 
teacher's power, by restricting his exercise within too 
narrow limits. 

3. The system was not suited to very small or 
very large schools. In the first case the groups were 
too small, and the arrangement too expensive ; and, 
in the second, the sections were unmanageably large 
when placed on the gallery. Many of the existing 
schools were unable to employ it from the unsuita- 
bility of the rooms. 

4. In schools, again, the pupils of which varied 

M 



1 6 2 Organization. 

very widely with respect to age and acquirements 
(say from infants to advanced scholars), the three-part 
classification was insufficient to enable the work to be 
made suitable for all. 

5. It broke that sympathy between teacher and 
taught, and that continuity of associated work, which 
act so strongly for good. 



(2) The Pupil Teacher or English System. 

The pupil teacher scheme was an outgrowth of 
the monitorial system ; an attempt to preserve the 
best features of the latter, without its evils, and not 
only insure improvement in the work, but also provide 
a supply of future masters. It was felt that the 
monitors, just as they were getting of an age to do 
really useful work, were withdrawn from the school, 
and various memorials were addressed to the Com- 
mittee of Council on this subject. The remedy of 
apprenticing the monitors — to be then styled pupil 
teachers — was suggested about 1844. 

In 1845 the Rev. F. C. Cook says, in his report, 'I have 
noted the cases in which pupil teachers are employed, and 
it appears that they are only found in a few metropolitan 
parishes. In one school, at Baldwin's Gardens, four youths 
act in this capacity; in other places but one assists the 
master.' 

The celebrated minutes of 1846 x established the 
use of pupil teachers as a system. They might be 
employed up to one for every twenty-five children in 

1 These minutes initiated the annual grants to elementary schools, 
and proposed the granting of pensions to masters. The details, how- 
ever, of the latter were not made known until 1851. 



Systems of Organization. 163 

average attendance, in any school under inspection, 
which had a competent master, and was properly 
supplied with apparatus and books. They were to 
be apprenticed to the master for five years, com- 
mencing after thirteen years of age, the Government 
paying a fixed stipend for each year of apprenticeship, 
if the annual examination test was satisfactorily^ 
passed. A scheme of study was laid down for each 
year, and they were to receive daily an hour and a 
half's instruction from the master, for five days a week. 
For this instruction the master was to receive 3/. per 
annum for one pupil teacher, 9/. for two, 12/. for three, 
and 3/. more for each one in addition. At first it was 
proposed to issue a certificate at the end of appren- 
ticeship, showing that the course had been completed ; 
but this was not found advisable. It was supposed that 
the majority of those who had completed their time 
would seek to enter a training college, and exhibitions 
to them, as Queen's scholars, were granted for this pur- 
pose. Opportunity of employment in the Civil Service 
was also held out, but this proposal was cancelled in 
1852, as it was thought it might divert attention from 
the profession for which the pupil teachers were trained. 
The system soon became general throughout England, 
and though modifications have been introduced from 
time to time, it still remains essentially what it was 
intended to be. 

In the case of large schools, necessitating the employ- 
ment of a number of pupil teachers, it was found that the 
proportion of skilled to unskilled labor was too small for 
the work to be properly performed. To meet this defect 
various regulations have been made, limiting the number of 
pupil teachers which may be employed with each master or 
adult assistant. The pupil teacher must now be turned 



164 Organization. 

fourteen at the time of apprenticeship, and is ordinarily 
apprenticed for four years; though the period may be 
shortened to three, or two, provided that the candidates 
pass the examination for the end of the first or second yeai 
respectively, and that the apprenticeship terminates beyond 
his eighteenth year. The system supplies an excellent 
means of recruiting the teaching profession, and with the 
employment of a sufficient number of skilled assistants in 
large schools to do the higher educative work, may be made 
a thoroughly efficient one. It would be a mistake to sub- 
stitute for it the more costly plan of adult assistants only, 
and employ highly skilled labor in the performance of cer- 
tain mechanical parts of the teaching — such as the drill 
work of reading, superintendence of silent work, &c. — 
which can be effectively performed by even young pupil 
teachers, and with much less irksomeness than would be 
felt by the majority of adults. 

Many of the objections urged against the plan 
result from defective carrying out, and are not, as it is 
at present modified, inherent in the system itself. One 
of the greatest mistakes is the treatment of the pupil 
teacher, so far as the work is concerned, as though 
he were a journeyman and not an apprentice. To put 
a young untrained teacher to a large class, and make 
him responsible, often without help, and sometimes 
without guidance, for its entire teaching, is not to carry 
out the system as intended, but to fall into an error 
which we should do our best to avoid. Is it not to 
proclaim, either that we have forgotten the instrument 
we are using, and the needs both of the teacher and 
the children ; or that we fail to recognize what edu- 
cation should be, and have no higher ideal of the 
child's needs than a certain minimum acquaintance 
with the rudimentary branches of instruction ; and 
do we not also thereby show ourselves to be blind 



Systems of Oj'ganization. 165 

to the lessons of experience, and repeat, in a slightly 
altered form, the most defective feature of the moni- 
torial system ? 

No doubt the understanding of schools (which has 
rendered the master's share of the work very severe), 
the necessity of bringing every child up to a certain 
examination standard, and the direction of the atten- 
tion of both teachers and managers to the money earn- 
ing capability of the school by the system of paying 
grants, have had much to do with this state of things ; 
but it should be remembered that they do not excuse 
avoidable faults in the teacher's share of the work, 
and that while we may do all in our power to secure 
the best conditions of work, it is still our duty in the 
meantime to do our best under such conditions as 
exist. Where (the pupil teacher having been properly 
selected) the fact is recognized that at first he is but 
a good monitor, and such work is allotted to him as 
he should be able to perform ; where it is not for- 
gotten that he has to be trained to his business, and 
the teaching required of him is gradually made of a 
higher or more difficult kind as his skill increases ; 
where it is realized that every child in the school 
should, during certain lessons, be brought under the 
influence either of the master himself, or of a skilled 
assistant ; we are not likely to hear much of the use- 
lessness of the pupil teacher's work, on the one hand, 
or of the defective training of the children on the 
other. 



1 66 Organization. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SCHOOL AND ITS APPOINTMENTS. 

Though the teacher may rarely have his opinion 
asked concerning the building of a school, and only 
occasionally have a voice in its fitting up, it is not 
the less incumbent upon him to know what a good 
type of school should be, and the proper means of 
fitting up and furnishing it, so that the work may be 
facilitated and carried on with the largest measure of 
success. He may often very considerably modify the 
arrangements for the better, if he is clear as to what 
should be aimed at. 

We have to consider in connection with this sub- 
ject, — (i) the size and shape of the rooms, with their 
general disposition as to each other — large room, class 
rooms, lobby or entrance room, lavatory, teachers' 
room, play-grounds covered and uncovered, and the 
offices in connection with them; (2) the mode of 
lighting; (3) the warming ; (4) the ventilation ; (5) 
the fittings and furniture. 

A. The Size, Shape, and Disposition of the 
Rooms. 

The size of the room will of course depend upon 
the expected attendance. The code states that ' the 
department will endeavor to secure at least 80 cubic 



The School and its Appointments. 167 

feet of internal space, and eight square feet of internal 
area, for each unit of average attendance.' The 
content limit of 80 cubic feet per child is certainly a 
very low estimate under ordinary conditions, and in 
most schools is with good reason considerably ex- 
ceeded. 

The site of the school should be convenient with respect 
to the children's homes ; as quiet and retired as possible, 
and not placed in a disagreeable neighborhood ; should be 
healthy, well drained, and have as cheerful surroundings 
as may be ; and wherever practicable the building should 
be isolated from other structures. 

Small schools present little difficulty as to planning. 
Larger ones combining all the rooms required for three sep- 
arate departments — boys, girls, and infants — are generally 
grouped in one block of buildings, and require much more 
careful consideration. The more compact the arrangement, 
so long as it secures the proper isolation, lighting, connection 
of rooms in each department, &c, the better. The site of 
the school building will often very materially modify the 
grouping, and in some cases the question of cost will be no 
unimportant factor. The aspect with reference to sun and 
wind should also be taken into consideration. Where land 
is dear, and often difficult to procure, as in large towns, it 
becomes necessary to arrange the rooms in flats or stories ; 
but when this plan can be conveniently avoided, it should be. 
If it is adopted, the infants should always be placed on the 
ground floor. Steep and narrow staircases must be carefully 
avoided, and the flights should be as short as convenient. 

The best shape for the large room is a well-pro- 
portioned oblong, sufficiently wide to give desk room 
and floor space opposite for reading. With the usual 
grouping of desks 22 feet will be found sufficient, for 
small schools somewhat less. The width and shape 
of infant schools is not so important, as few desks are 



Organization. 



£> 



required and much of the work is of a different kind. 
Small schools will approach more nearly a square, 
while large schools will be proportionately narrower 
as they increase in size. The most perfectly shaped 
room, and much the most convenient sized school for 
efficient working, is one for from 200 to 250 children. 
Very large rooms generally necessitate waste of space, 
and the accessories are much more difficult to arrange 
satisfactorily. Within reasonable limits the loftier 
the school-room the better ; if it has a flat ceiling it 
should be at the very least 14 or 15 feet high. 

The genius of our English system, its scheme of teachers, 
classification, &c, necessitate a large room. The separate 
class-room system adopted in Germany and elsewhere would 
be a mistake, in the vast majority of instances, under our 
present conditions, and must, under any circumstances, tend 
to diminish that esprit de corps and pride in the school on 
the part of the children so common in England. 

Class-rooms should always be provided in sufficient 
number, and even the smallest schools should have 
one. The class-rooms should under ordinary circum- 
stances furnish the gallery-room for oral lessons ; but 
in addition to this in many of our large schools, with 
a considerable staff of assistants, class-rooms are now 
provided with desks, and worked pretty much like 
small schools under the supervision of one head. 
Under average conditions the class-rooms should hold 
from 30 to 40 children each. They should open 
directly on the large room, and have glass in the upper 
part of the door, or have a partially glazed partition. 
They should not be the means of communication 
between the school and the playground or offices. 
Where intended to hold desks, they must be wide 
enough to allow the children to be brought out on 



The School and its Appointments. [69 

the floor for reading ; and where this cannot be ar- 
ranged, the desks must be such as to allow the chil- 
dren to stand easily between them. Change of posture 
must not be forgotten. 

In small schools it is not difficult to dispose the class- 
rooms suitably, but in large schools it is often no easy matter 
to arrange them so as not to interfere with the lighting of 
the large room, and yet afford facilities for proper super- 
vision. A common plan is to place them side by side along 
one side of the school, and separated from it by a partition 
glazed in the upper half. This plan is said not to be de- 
sirable, as both lighting and proper ventilation are interfered 
with. They should at least not be placed across the end of 
the school which lies to the children's left when seated in 
the desks, as this precludes the use of the most valuable side 
light which can be obtained. Where an assistant and pupil 
teacher are intended to work together, a class-room suffi- 
ciently large for two classes, separated by means of a sliding 
partition so that it can be used either as a single room or 
divided into two, is very useful. A glazed partition will 
render easy the oversight of the pupil teacher's work by the 
assistant, in the lessons where each is independently em- 
ployed. This seems a valuable means of training assistants 
to become head masters. 

In America the attempt is sometimes made to combine 
the occasional use of a large room with the general employ- 
ment of the class-room organization. In such cases the 
fitting is so arranged that the school-room can be divided 
into a number of separate class-rooms by sliding partitions. 
These isolate the children as to sight, but can scarcely do 
so with respect to sound. 

The walls of the rooms should be, wherever it can 
be afforded, panelled or match-boarded to a height of 
about 4% to 5 feet ; where this cannot be done they 
should be painted to this height. Above they should 



i jo Organization.. 

be colored, not white-washed as this gives an un- 
pleasant glare which is trying to the eyes. French 
grey or very light stone color answers very well. 
This coloring serves an important purpose in dis- 
tributing the light. 

Where boarding is used for floors, it should be of 
well dried timber, and of sufficient thickness to give 
solidity. Perhaps the best flooring for rooms on the 
ground floor is that made of good wood blocks laid 
in asphalt on a concrete bottom, or in cement. Oak 
is the best wood to employ, but pine is sometimes 
used. The blocks may be laid in an agreeable 
pattern with little or no additional expense, and they 
wear best if the grain runs perpendicularly. 

The lobby or cloak room should be conveniently 
placed with respect to the playground, and it is better 
that the street door of the school-room should not 
open directly into it, as this affords facilities for the 
theft of caps, &c. It should be of suitable size and 
well lighted, secure enough for the children to feel 
confidence in leaving their things in it, and be liberally 
provided with pegs. The bent wire pegs with a con- 
necting band in the middle wear much the best. In 
large schools, where the lobby is sufficiently large, a 
wooden partition about 5 feet high down the middle 
of the lobby affords increased peg space, and is 
serviceable in point of order. A folding door should 
communicate with the school itself. In connection 
with the lobby, but partitioned off from it, or better 
still forming a separate room, there should be a 
lavatory provided with iron hand basins and taps. 1 
These need not be numerous, two or three basins for 

1 See an excellent arrangement of tap and basin figured in Robson's 
■School Architecture, p. 212. 



The School and its Appoi?itme7tts. 171 

each 100 children are usually considered sufficient ; 
soap and a few school towels are also necessaries 
which are very frequently forgotten. 

When expense was in nearly all cases a. most impor- 
tant consideration, and any room which could possibly 
be dispensed with was omitted, a teacher s private room 
was a rare thing. Since the advent of School Boards 
a room of this kind has become a part of most large 
new schools. Such a room is convenient for the in- 
struction of pupil teachers, for holding surplus stock, 
the teacher's library, &c. It may also prove useful 
in case of accident or sudden illness. 

It is a misfortune for a school not to have a good 
playground in connection with it, and except in cases 
of practical impossibility one should always be pro- 
vided. It should be well fenced in, and protected 
from the intrusion of outsiders. 'The playground,' 
says Robson, ' is a most important adjunct to a school, 
and, whether for fresh air, exercise, amusement, rec- 
reation, or discipline, is quite as necessary in the 
production of satisfactory educational results as a 
class-room, or any other portion of the school proper. 
Not inaptly did Mr. Stow call it "the uncovered 
school-room." A good teacher will often be found to 
regard it as but another place for another kind of in- 
struction. ... It may sometimes happen that the 
plan of the buildings is so determined by the con- 
ditions of the site, as to leave only sunless play- 
grounds. Under ordinary circumstances, the aspect 
of these latter is quite as important as that of the 
school-rooms. Sun is here a necessary of life. With- 
out it, the playgrounds will be mere draughty yards, 
conducive to colds, which are the seeds of so many 
disorders.' 



1 72 Organization. 

The floor of the open playground is an important con- 
sideration. It should have a good slope, be thoroughly well 
drained, and properly * made.' Fine gravel, which will bind 
well, does for the upper surface, but a surface of loose stones 
is the worst possible. Red furnace-ashes, to be obtained in 
some parts of the country, answer very well, but black ones 
should not be used. Asphalt is, perhaps, on the whole the 
most satisfactory; but this is somewhat expensive, and 
has its drawbacks. Each playground should afford means 
for the children obtaining water to drink. 

There should always be a supply of suitable appliances 
in the way of gymnastic apparatus, etc. A selection may be 
made, bearing in mind the needs of infant schools, from the 
following — giant-strides, swings, horizontal bars of varying 
heights, parallel bars either fixed in height or adjustable,, 
ladders, ropes and poles for climbing, a double-inclined 
plane, see-saws, a wooden vaulting-horse, and jumping ap- 
paratus. In the provision of such appliances we are very 
far behind most foreign schools. 

Where space is a consideration, arrangement may be 
made whereby the girls and infants may use the same yard 
at different times. Covered sheds, open on one side, 
should be provided, with asphalt floors, in the case of all 
large schools, to protect the children from occasional show- 
ers, and afford free space for recreation in wet weather. 
The covered playgrounds are fortunately becoming common. 
They are especially necessary in the case of infant schools, 
and in such cases form capital marching grounds. In some 
of the French infant schools, or salles d'asile, they are base- 
ment rooms, fitted up with seats, and warmed in winter. In 
America, too, the basement story is frequently used for 
this purpose, but left open to the air. 

A most important matter with respect to out- 
door arrangements is the provision of proper offices. 
These should be retired, and not conspicuously 
placed, as is often the case. They should be sufBci- 



The School and its Appointments. 173 

ently near to the school building to be convenient for 
the children, and yet far enough removed to prevent 
any contamination of the air in the rooms. The 
drains should be of good size, well connected at the 
joints, and properly trapped and ventilated. 

They should have in all cases a sufficient fall to clear 
themselves ; ' one in forty-eight is frequently given, or three 
quarters of an inch in every yard ; a fall of one in sixty-five, 
in drains of six inches diameter, and one in eighty-seven, 
in drains of eight inches diameter, will give a velocity of 
220 feet.' 1 Traps are often inefficient from bad laying ; if 
* properly laid, a trap is efficient if water stands in it to the 
height of three quarters of an inch above the openings/ 
For underground use, the ordinary syphon traps serve 
school purposes very well. To prevent the drains silting 
up, there should always be simple gulley traps in connection 
with the gratings for carrying off surface water. Pipes 
should be sufficiently large to prevent them under any 
ordinary circumstances from running full of water. 

The closets, or latrines as they are now frequently 
called after the French, should be small separate 
apartments with white glazed brick walls, which 
present no facilities for writing upon, and are very 
cleanly. Great care should be taken to have the 
closets frequently cleaned, and they should be under 
regular inspection. In the case of large schools in 
towns, where a caretaker is employed, the seats and 
floors should be washed down daily by means of a 
pipe and hose. 

The number of closets to be provided is about three to 
the first hundred, and one in addition for every succeeding 
fifty. Separate provision should be made for the teachers. 
Water-closets are very apt to lead to great waste of water ; 

1 Parkes' Hygiene. 



1 74 Organization. 

but, where they are used, a sufficient supply is absolutely 
necessary. The pans should be conical in shape, not 
hemispherical. Water-troughs are very useful where a 
supply of water and proper attendance can be secured. 
A large cast-iron or strong earthenware trough runs under 
the seats, and is kept about half full of water. By the 
opening of a valve the contents pass into large drains in 
connection with the sewer. Water-troughs should be well 
flushed at least once a day. 

Earth-closets frequently answer well, and are, perhaps, 
the best adapted for general use. They may be constructed 
either with or without dust-regulating arrangements. In 
many cases they are made with hinged flaps at the back, 
by means of which dry earth can be thrown in periodically 
— once a day at least. In Moule's arrangement there is a 
hopper above, from which the dried earth falls when a valve 
is opened. Powdered clay, or marl, is said to be the best 
earth for use, though almost any will do if not very sandy 
or chalky ; wood ashes answer well, but are not easily pro- 
cured. Fine coke-dust is a good substitute, and coal-ashes 
and the dust from school sweeping are also used. 

The urinals should be separated by slate slabs; the 
floor should have sufficient slope, there should be a fairly 
broad, but not deep trough, and the connecting openings 
should be large enough to allow a brush to be readily passed 
from one section to another. Care should be taken that 
the surface of the troughs is regular. Thorough and fre- 
quent flushing is a necessity. 

b. The Mode of Lighting. 

Good light is essential if the work is to be per- 
formed without strain to the sight. Windows in schools 
should be large and numerous, placed well up in the 
walls, so as never to form a background to anything 
exhibited by the teacher, and so arranged as to 
furnish both light and ventilation. 



The School and its Appointments. 175 

Small panes break up the light too much, and try the 
eyes; the small diamond panes set in lead being particularly 
objectionable on many grounds. The panes, however, 
should not be too large, on account of breakage. Rods 
and levers are better for opening windows than cords, as 
being much less likely to get out of gear. All windows 
into which the sun can shine should have blinds provided. 
Excess or defect of light tends, not only to injure the eyes, 
but causes a drowsy depressed state of feeling, and, not 
unfrequently, headaches. 

With respect to the most suitable kind of light 
Dr. Liebreich says, ' The light must be sufficiently 
strong and fall on the table from the left-hand side 
and, as far as possible, from above. . . . Light coming 
from the right hand is not so good as that from the 
left, because the shadow of the hand falls upon 
that part of the paper at which we are looking. 
Light from behind is still worse, because the head and 
upper part of the body throw a shadow on the book ; 
but the light that comes from the front and falls on 
the face is by far the worst of all. In the first place, 
it does not attain the object desired; and next, it is 
most hurtful to the eye. The object is to make the 
fully illuminated faces more visible to the master ; 
but the children, instinctively desirous of avoiding the 
unpleasantness of the full glare, assume all sorts of 
positions, which turn their faces from the master. In 
reading they turn the head round the vertical axis, 
generally towards the right, in order to let the light 
fall on the book which, when held straight before 
them, is completely in shadow ; while in writing or in 
reading (the book being on the table) they bend their 
heads as low as possible, in order to shade their eyes 
by the projection of the forehead/ In some schools 



t 76 Organization. 

arrangement is made for the admission of light from 
above by means of skylights or a lantern. These are 
very good so far as illumination is concerned, as the 
light is free from shadow and steadier than from the 
sides ; but they are, especially lanterns, difficult to 
keep watertight. Ground glass is injurious, if light 
is admitted through it opposite to the eye ; it ought 
not, therefore, to be used for the lower panes in 
windows, and the same objections apply to ribbed 
glass. The best authorities are of opinion that the main 
lighting of a school should not be from the south or 
south-west, on account of the heat and glare in summer, 
but there should be some light from this direction. A 
room into which the sun never shines is scarcely likely 
to be as healthy as it should be. The way in which 
the school is lighted will largely determine the 
arrangement of the furniture, and this again will need 
to be taken into consideration in the disposition of the 
fireplaces. 

c. Warming and Ventilation. 

So closely connected are warming and ventilation, 
that, not only in systems avowedly intended to ac- 
complish both, but even in the case of the ordinary 
grate or stove, they need to be considered in connection. 
' Warming is the motive power of ventilation.' Even 
in the case of summer ventilation the change of air 
depends mostly upon differences of temperature ; the 
winter difficulty however is much the greater. Winds, 
which are but natural convection currents, often modify 
considerably the efficiency of warming and ventilation. 

To warm a school, as is often done in Germany, without 
proper attention to change of air, is not a difficult matter ; 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 8 1 

certain combinations of ideas. It takes as elements 
the ideas already existing in the mind, and selecting 
certain of these combines them in a way of its own ; 
it may be with an intensity of realism, a vividness of 
color, a completeness of detail, and, in its higher 
products, a perfection of beauty and a power of pro- 
ducing emotion, which completely surpass, in these 
respects, anything with which the other faculties 
supply us. 

The elements are natural transcripts of real exis- 
tences ; the product may be merely an imitative and 
truthful picture intensely realized ; or may be utterly 
unlike anything previously existing in the mind, either 
from its incongruity with natural things, or from its 
transcending them in all those qualities which go to 
make up ideal perfection. In the former case we pro- 
nounce the result unreal, grotesque, or extravagant ; 
and this fantastic, whimsical, ridiculous side of the 
imagination, which aims mainly at amusement, is often 
denominated/^;^. The imagination shows itself in 
invention, in illustration, in power of appreciation, in 
emotion, in dramatic power, in improvisation ; and, 
lastly, in that wonderful insight into truth, and that 
extreme sensibility to beauty, which mark the genius 
of the scientific discoverer or the artist. It opens up 
many possibilities, and its value will depend upon 
the original strength of the power, upon the mode in 
which it has been trained, and the use to which it is 
put. On the one hand it may serve important pur- 
poses of culture, both intellectual and moral ; it may 
add to our joys, give force to our virtues, and 
strengthen our faith ; it may aid us to discover ele- 
ments of beauty worthy of our admiration in the 
commonest things and circumstances of life, and help 

G 



82 The Work of Education. 

to raise us above mere animal pleasures, or the 
absorbing contemplation of our own selfish ends ; it 
may assist the intelligence to penetrate into regions 
unknown, and enable genius to unlock for us the 
secret chambers of nature, or fashion for us the 
beauties of art. On the other hand, it may usurp the 
power of the other faculties, and render the mind 
dreamy and unpractical; it may rouse evil passions, 
picture degrading scenes, and make vice alluring ; it 
may promote a spirit of rash speculation, or blind 
enthusiasm, and lead to delusion or superstition ; and, 
further, it ' may be employed for calling into being 
evils which have no existence, or for exaggerating 
those which are real, for fostering malevolent feel- 
ings, and for imputing to those with whom we are 
connected, motives and intentions which have no 
foundation in truth.' * Kept in check it is a most 
valuable servant, but allowed to run riot and override 
the other faculties it is a serious source of evil. Even 
its disproportionate and excessive use has a tendency 
to destroy the balance of the mind. It is well known 
that novelists and poets are more prone than other 
men of healthy minds to insanity. ' Great wits are 
sure to madness near allied.' 

Imagination differs from memory, in that in the 
latter case we reproduce as faithfully as possible a 
pre-existing type, and carefully avoid mixing up any 
other elements than those previously held in connec- 
tion by the mind. The business of memory is to 
present facts as they happened ; there must be no 
rearrangement, no confusion, the more exact the copy 
the better ; in imagination only an idealized similarity 

1 Abercrombie's Intellectual Powers. 



Imagination, Judgnicnt, and Reason. 83 

is aimed at. Memory gives us a word for word 
translation, as it were, and confines itself to its sub- 
ject ; imagination gives a free rendering with added 
illustrations and digressions, which may be an im- 
provement upon the original, but is not the counter- 
part of it. Memory reproduces only images of real 
and past experiences ; imagination conjures up ficti- 
tious visions, and projects itself with equal facility 
into the past or the future. 

The imagination is nearly always spoken of as of 
two kinds: — (1) reproductive or constructive ; and 
(2) creative. By the constructive imagination is 
meant that everyday phase of the faculty, which 
allies itself for the most part with the intellectual side 
of the mind, and which is more particularly capable 
of cultivation, and more directly amenable to control. 
In its lowest aspects it is nothing more than extended 
conception ; the power of rapidly combining and, as it 
were, objectifying ideas, of realizing as vividly and 
truthfully as possible objects or scenes suggested to 
the mind — as the appearance of an animal we have 
never seen but have read of, the aspect of a foreign 
country from description, or the sufferings of a ship- 
wrecked mariner from our knowledge of the circum- 
stances. In common language we often say indif- 
ferently we cannot imagine or cannot conceive a 
thing. Some writers, indeed, make the word concep- 
tion cover the whole of the constructive side of the 
imagination, but it seems better to exclude from the 
former term the elements of fiction or invention prop- 
erly so-called — all such products, that is, as have no 
original. 

The creative imagination concerns itself more 
especially with discovery, with producing for us works 



84 The Work of Education. 

of taste and beauty ; and when working in the latter 
direction associates with itself a large element of 
emotion. It is but little amenable to laws, and in its 
higher forms is rather a special gift than a product of 
cultivation. At the same time, it may be greatly 
invigorated by training, directed in its action, and 
brought into harmonious working with the other 
faculties. It is modified by their influence, and in 
turn reacts upon them. It lends its aid to the settle- 
ment of what is to be done in the case of difficulty, 
acts as pioneer in the discovery of the way, and takes 
a large share in portioning out the work. It is, how- 
ever, a late development, and except in so far as it is 
strengthened by the general means for the cultivation 
of the imagination as a whole, it does not fall within 
the ordinary province of the teacher. 

That the imagination acts very early may be seen from 
the vague terrors of children at suggested evils, from their 
intense personifying power — as shown by their mode of 
treating their playthings, and the way in which they credit 
inanimate things with life ; from their power of ' supposing ' 
an object to be this or that, or of transporting themselves 
into imaginary circumstances ; and from the keenness with 
which they feel the pleasures of anticipation. Many persons, 
however, seem to look with suspicion on the cultivation of 
this faculty as likely, either to render the child excitable, 
timorous, and apprehensive, and to inflame the passions, 
or to lead to that dreamy inactive state in which the mind 
seems always preoccupied with its own fancies. Others, 
again, failing to recognize the numerous useful functions of 
a healthy imagination, are inclined to view it as entirely 
ornamental, and useless for the practical concerns of life. 
As a matter of fact, however, the evils generally arise as the 
result of neglect of cultivation — from its having been left to 
follow its own bent, from the lack of proper regulation, and 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 85 

from the absence of that proportionate attention to all the 
faculties which gives the mind its true power. Certainly 
the average child is bettered by the cultivation of the 
imagination. There is no subject of study which may not 
be aided by its proper use, and no position in life which 
may not be br ghtened by it, if led into proper channels. 
'With reason,' as Professor Blackie remarks, 'it is often the 
best and the most indispensable of allies.' 

The fact that imagination in all its phases makes 
use of materials already stored in the mind, indicates 
that the more thorough and extended the child's 
perceptional training — the more ample and varied 
the store of ideas — the more readily will imagination 
find the elements necessary to its combinations. But 
passing over the assistance rendered in this way, we 
proceed to speak of some of the more direct modes 
by which the teacher may foster the right growth of 
the imagination itself. 

Nothing perhaps is more likely to have a bene- 
ficial effect upon the growth of this faculty, than 
promoting a reading habit, and providing children 
with wholesome and interesting books. There is 
now so much that is excellent, so much that will 
lighten many a weary hour, both in fiction and in 
poetry, that it is a real loss if no taste for, and power 
to enjoy imaginative works is given by the school. 
The necessary qualities of reading books will be 
spoken of in another place ; but, in addition to these, 
the teacher may do much in guiding the home reading 
of children. Many of our large towns possess free 
lending libraries, which the children of reading age 
should be encouraged to use, the teacher suggesting 
good books and giving a word of advice here and 
there respecting the reading. Wherever too the 



86 The Work of Education, 

funds will permit, a small school library should be 
established. The books found in these are often too 
dry, too ill assorted, to serve their purpose well. Books 
devoted to information there should be ; but these 
should not form even the larger part. In these days 
of cheap literature — often of the most pernicious 
kind — we have. to present a counter attraction ; and 
this can readily be found in thoroughly interesting 
books, good standard novels of the Sir Walter Scott 
type, stories of honor and heroism, fables and parables, 
books of travel and adventure, and a judicious selec- 
tion of the poets. Nor need we be afraid of fairy 
stories or eastern tales, so long as the grotesque 
element does not preponderate. The teacher may 
often serve a double purpose by occasionally reading 
a short interesting story in school, with comments 
and questions. Valuable opportunities of training 
will also frequently occur during the reading lesson, 
and in the upper classes the children may be gradually 
led to appreciate some of the higher elements of 
poetry. The learning of select extracts of acknowl- 
edged excellence will not only store their minds with 
beautiful images, but tend to improve their taste, and 
provide them with standards for comparison. 

Pictures again serve a very useful purpose in the 
training of the imagination, whether used as lesson 
illustrations or as occurring in books. 

In some sets of reading books, the woodcuts throw 
no light, or only a confusing one, upon the lessons, and 
so far as their use in enabling the child to realize the 
story is concerned would be better omitted. It is a 
good exercise to allow a child occasionally to explain 
or 'read' the pictures, especially such as occur in the 
books he uses. This may best be done in the reading 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 87 

lesson, the other children watching narrowly for errors 
and supplying omissions. The object is to elicit from 
the child just such a description or story, told in his 
own words, as the picture would exactly illustrate. 
The delight with which children enter into this work, 
the sudden brightening up of attention, the frequent 
skill in invention, and the little touches of humor and 
dramatic power displayed, render the exercise not only 
a good training for the imagination, but a useful and 
pleasant recreative break ; especially with a somewhat 
jaded class. 

The ' picturing out ' method in teaching is another 
aid in the culture of the imagination, and is most 
useful in such lessons as geography and history. And 
lastly, in addition to the various means described, 
much may be done by directing attention to the 
beauties of nature ; by quickening the observation, 
and pointing out elements worthy of admiration in 
the objects brought under notice ; by encouraging 
little experiments, mechanical inventions, or ingenuity 
in overcoming difficulties ; by the recital of noble, 
courageous, or generous actions, and by promoting 
the formation of a high ideal of conduct and the 
constant struggle after a higher degree of perfection. 

In the case of children given to day-dreaming we 
must stimulate to activity, both of body and mind ; 
we must arouse their interest, encourage play, and 
by giving them a full share of such work as answering 
questions during teaching, leave them little opportu- 
nity for turning their attention inwards. 

Finally, the best means of keeping the imagination 
in its place, when inclined to be unduly active, is not 
by systematic neglect — for it will find food without 
our aid — or any attempt at suppression ; but by 



88 The Work of Education. 

increased attention to the strengthening of such fac- 
ulties as the judgment and the reason in opposi- 
tion to it, and by removing as much as possible all, 
emotional incitements to its operation. In any case, 
we have so to distribute exercise amongst the various 
powers that each may have suitable opportunities 
afforded to it, and the mental balance be as far as 
possible preserved under all circumstances. 

B. yudgment. 

When we mentally place side by side two notions 
or two objects or two courses of conduct, in order to 
examine them as to their agreement or disagreement, 
their truth or falsehood, or as to whether this or that 
is the right course to pursue, and we decide what is to 
be thought or done, we are said to use our judgment. 
In any case judgment supposes comparison, either 
conscious or unconscious, and selection or choice o£ 
one view rather than another. All thought thus 
involves judgment, and we see that assertions or 
propositions, which are but expressed judgments,, 
must be either positive or negative in form. The 
term judgment is often made to cover a great deal of 
ground, including not only reason, but almost every 
phase of mental action. As Dr. Carpenter remarks,. 
' all the faculties are exercised in an act of judgment,' 
which according to this view comprehends the entire 
process of arriving at a decision. Still, it is quite 
possible to confine the term to the mere balance of 
data provided by the other faculties, and the expres- 
sion of the result. Just as in building a house the 
making of the bricks, the sawing of the wood, the 
carting of the materials, &c, are all necessary steps;, 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 89 

yet they may be kept quite distinct from the actual 
process of building itself. 

As previously pointed out, reason is often employed 
as a mere synonym for judgment, but more usually 
it is confined to one phase of this faculty — the mental 
act whereby we consider in connection the force of 
certain previous judgments or facts of observation, 
and in consequence of this consideration pass on to 
another decision founded upon them. We shall find 
shortly that we commonly do this in one of two ways, 
either by a deductive or by an inductive process. Rea- 
soning is thus nothing but a higher form of judgment, 
involving comparison and the drawing of an inference ; 
an intentional starting with known facts to arrive at 
something as yet unknown ; an act of judgment 
according to certain fixed methods of procedure. 
The reasoning processes therefore serve to give 
direction to the working of the judgment, and form 
as it were a kind of machinery of search after truth. 

The province of perception is to present to the 
mind outward things ; the province of the repre- 
sentative faculties is to recall past ideas or image 
forth new combinations ; the province of the judg- 
ment and the reason is to compare and decide — ' to 
strip away what is merely temporary, in the multi- 
plicity of daily experience, and to retain that which 
bears upon it the marks of an universal truth, valid 
alike in the sphere of nature and in the region of 
thought.' The products of perception are ideas, and the 
signs words ; the products of judgment are decisions 
or propositions, and the signs sentences. The accurate 
wording of ideas and conclusions is a consideration 
of vital importance in connection with the judgment, 
and deserving of careful attention on the part of the 



90 The Work of Education. 

teacher, both as a study, and in connection with his 
work. It is not sufficient only to have right ideas, 
or to judge correctly ; if we wish to free ourselves 
from all haziness of conception, to retain our notions 
or decisions clearly and accurately, to make them of 
benefit to others, or to use them readily ourselves, 
the expression of them in precise and compendious 
language is a necessity. * A country may be over-run 
by an armed host,' says Sir W. Hamilton, ' but it is 
only conquered by the establishment of fortresses. 
Words are the fortresses of thought. They enable 
us to realize our dominion over what we have already 
over-run in thought, to make every intellectual conquest 
the basis of operations for others still beyond.' It is 
thus a necessity in good teaching to attend to both 
ideas and words, thoughts and expression. We must 
not only see that the child grasps our meaning, but 
make him give back his knowledge in his own words. 
Questioning, writing abstracts of lessons, and ex- 
aminations, are all useful means to this end. Hearing 
words frequently and accurately used, with plenty of 
exercises demanding their employment, and the cor- 
rection as well as detection of the errors he makes, 
will do more for the understanding of a child than any 
number of formal definitions. 

In explaining a word, to isolate it and give a dictionary 
definition, even when within the range of the child's com- 
prehension, is the wrong method. It should always be 
treated in connection with the context, and the sense of the 
passage taken first. Sometimes this will be sufficient, and 
at least it will then be easy to narrow down the meaning of 
the particular word to the idea required. This will not 
only enable the child to give the signification of the word, 
but will show him how it should be used. Every teacher 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 91 

knows that a child is frequently able to give the purport of 
a passage containing a difficult word, while he is quite 
unable to give the sense of the particular word when taken 
away from its connections. One meaning at a time is all 
that should be attempted. It is a common error to dwell 
upon the various significations of a new word with children. 
Such a proceeding is pretty certain to end in nothing but 
confusion, until a somewhat extended knowledge of words 
and meanings has been acquired ; even then it needs tact 
and skill. A child's ideas and vocabulary should run side 
by side ; to endeavor to teach either out of proportion to 
the other is a mistake. 

The everyday requirements of life are continually 
calling upon us for exercises of judgment, many of 
which we are enabled to verify and correct. The 
actual results of these judgments, although they may 
have passed from the consciousness, seem to give the 
mind a kind of instinctive power of looking into 
things, and arriving at a decision without any very 
definite realization of the grounds upon which the 
judgment is based. This faculty is usually spoken of 
as 'common sense,' or 'good sense,' and often exerts 
a very large influence upon our ordinary decisions. 
The more extended and varied our experience is, and 
the more determinately we endeavor habitually to 
arrive at just conclusions, the more valuable does 
the intuitive help to be derived from common sense 
become. 

On the other hand, as each one of us is placed in 
certain circumstances, which are in many respects 
similar from day to day, any particular decision we 
arrive at has an influence upon the next act of a simi- 
lar kind which we are called upon to perform. Thus 
our judgments tend to fall into special lines, and we 



92 The Work of Education. 

come to form certain ' habits of thought,' as they are 
called ; the mind takes a natural bent, and loo*ks at 
things from a particular point of view. This habitual 
mental attitude very materially influences our judg- 
ment. Prejudices are simply exaggerated forms of 
this natural bias ; and in a similar way arise certain 
class narrownesses from which very few persons are 
wholly free. These ingrained tendencies account too 
for the very different value assigned to particular 
grounds of judgment by different individuals, and the 
very diverse decisions they sometimes honestly arrive 
at respecting the same thing. The prevalence and 
persistency of error show us how difficult it is in many 
matters for us to come to a right judgment, and how 
easily we may be led astray. These mental ten- 
dencies are thus very apt to mislead us, to warp our 
views, to keep out of sight certain elements which, 
should receive consideration, and to make us un- 
charitable and forgetful of what is due to others. It 
is therefore highly important that we should be as 
free as possible from the effects of previous mistaken 
judgments ; that we should keep selfish motives or 
party interests out of consideration ; and exercise 
due caution in restraining our emotions, our likes 
and dislikes, within proper bounds. We should also 
accustom ourselves to make ready allowance for 
factors we may have overlooked, and to view any 
subject brought before us for decision in as compre- 
hensive a manner as possible. 

Now as these 4 acquired conditions of mind ' are 
many of them formed while we are young, and as 
habits then generated act with greater force, and are 
much more tenacious, than those developed later in 
life, it is clear that the teacher should endeavor, as 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 93 

far as he is able, to see that the tendencies formed by 
the child are correct ones : that his views are broad- 
ened as much as is consistent with his age, and that 
much suitable and corrected practice in judgment is 
afforded him. What we have to aim at is to give 
exactness of observation, readiness of comparison, 
and promptness of decision ; and to steer clear of 
rashness on the one hand and indecision on the 
other. 

The importance of a sound judgment can scarcely be 
over-rated. It ' assists moral education by enabling man 
easily to distinguish good from evil. It prompts him to 
regulate his conduct according to the various situations in 
which he may be placed. It produces tranquillity of soul ; 
for it guards against violent emotions, by the mental habit 
of bestowing on all things the attention which they deserve, 
of considering them in their true light, and estimating them 
by their just value. Without rectitude of judgment, man is 
a slave to prejudice and passion ; his memory only exposes 
his folly; his imagination and sympathies continually lead 
him astray ; his habit of observation multiplies his errors ; 
his spirit of invention and discovery causes his ruin ; his 
reasoning, although it may be logical, by starting from wrong 
premises brings him to false conclusions. Even moral 
qualities often become dangerous when unaccompanied by 
sound judgment: courage degenerates into rashness, indul- 
gence into weakness, frankness into indiscretion, economy 
into avarice, and religion into superstition or fanaticism.' 1 

Judgment in its simplest form begins to act at a 
very early period, long before anything of the nature 
of what is usually meant by education is brought to 
bear upon the child. It is remarkable how soon he 
learns to trace analogies, detect differences, and come 
to simple decisions respecting the things around him. 

1 Marcel, Language as a means of Mental Culture. 



94 The Work of Education. 

As in the case of the other faculties, if we would have 
a child judge well we must lay the foundation in clear 
and accurate perceptions. These not only store the 
mind with data for future use, but their acquisition 
affords numerous opportunities of exercising a child's 
judgment in a suitable manner. It is thus necessary, 
from this point of view also, that we should train the 
child's observation, extend his experience of things, 
and strengthen his power of grasping their reality 
and meaning. Hazy and imperfect understanding 
can only end in weak and mistaken judgments. It 
is the training to be gained by the 'object lesson' 
which gives it its main value ; the facts are of secon- 
dary importance. If the knowledge we present to 
the child is not such as he can employ his powers 
upon, or is so crowded as not to give him proper 
time, we must not expect that his judgment, or any 
other faculty, will be much benefited. 

We have seen that in judgment we have two steps 
to take into account — comparison and decision. Now 
as the correctness of the latter depends upon the suc- 
cess with which the former has been accomplished, 
and results naturally from it, it follows that the great 
means for the early cultivation of the judgment is to 
accustom children to perform rapid and accurate com- 
parisons. How valuable this process of comparison 
is, in connection with the whole intellectual training, 
may be seen from the fact that it includes two of the 
three functions into which Professor Bain reduces all 
strictly intellectual operations — the detection of simi- 
larities and the discrimination of differences. 

With children, so far as judgment is concerned, 
we must begin with objects ; the order of the exercises 
being comparison of things as wholes, then of their 



Imagination, Judgment, and Reason. 95 

qualities, &c., then of simple conceptions, passing on 
gradually to more complex acts of judgment and 
simple reasoning. We may seek to bring out by 
comparison, similarity, difference or identity respect- 
ing (1) quantity — as size, number, degree, equivalence, 
&c. ; (2) properties or qualities — as shape, color, text- 
ure, hardness, &c. ; (3) functions, or modes of action, 
uses, &c. We may also view two things as to their 
sequence "ami relationship — the dependence of one thing 
on another, which we speak of as cause and effect ; 
the relation of a thing to its surroundings, or adapta- 
tion to circumstances, and so on. The work of com- 
parison must be done as far as possible by the child, 
the teaching being directive and suggestive. Nor 
must there be any formal array of the measures we 
adopt. The more natural and unrestrained the lessons 
are the better ; and here as elsewhere our machinery 
and plans should be kept as far as possible out of 
sight. The exercises of the judgment in children, the 
comparisons they are called upon to make, should be 
incidental rather than systematic, especially at first. 
It should not be forgotten that the main things to 
attend to during the early stages are perceptive and 
conceptive training, and that the larger share of the 
teaching should be directed to this end. Still the 
teacher will find almost every lesson he comes to will 
supply opportunities of cultivating the judgment, and 
these he should not neglect. 

Later on definite lessons of comparison will be 
found very useful, if properly managed ; but even here 
other things will of course also need attention. While 
the teacher should not forget that a distinct purpose — 
that is, distinct to him — is essential, he must at the 
same time be careful not to let it run away with him. 



96 The Work of Education. 

Elaborate special lessons, put into the strait-waist- 
coat of a rigidly fixed purpose, are generally weari- 
some ; they lack the necessary freedom for a good 
lesson, there is not sufficient room left for the chil- 
dren's minds to stretch themselves, except just in the 
way proposed, in consequence of which interest and 
attention flag, and little good results. The ends 
proposed, no matter how minute, may be reached 
without this. 

After progress has been made in the power of 
detecting resemblances, both of objects and qualities, 
we may gradually extend our comparisons to concep- 
tions on the one hand, and to a number of objects on 
the other, passing thus to simple exercises in generali- 
zation and classification. Here the attention has to 
be directed to the detection of the elements common 
to the objects or conceptions examined, and when 
they have been discovered the child must be led to 
select some common characteristic as a test of agree- 
ment to be applied to other objects. Lessons on 
plants or animals taught in the simplest way, with 
plenty of specimens in the one case, and of pictures or 
models in the other, with frequent use of black-board 
in both, will afford opportunities for a large number 
of very simple exercises in classification. Numerous 
other objects suitable for lessons will also supply 
materials for a similar training. 

As the child's power strengthens and he becomes 
able to understand them, the cultivation of the judg- 
ment may be carried into moral matters, and the 
exercises be made gradually more and more complex 
up to the limit of his power. We must nevertheless 
be careful not to go beyond it, and to proceed very 
slowly. History and Biography afford much material 



The School and its Appointments. 193 

or four children, not more ; and the pupils are reached 
from the side by gangways leading out in lines from 
the front to the back of the class. In America the 
single desk arrangement is much in vogue, and a 
similar plan is in use in Sweden and elsewhere. In 
Holland dual desks are generally employed, and 
these are in use in some parts of England, especially 
in the Board Schools of London. In Germany and 
Switzerland the desks usually seat four pupils each. 
In the short length arrangement the desks are placed 
close up to each other from front to back, and five, 
six, or even more rows are used. There should not 
be more than five. The advantages of the plan 
are the facility with which the teacher can reach 
every pupil, the ease with which any child can 
leave without disturbing any one else, the readiness 
with which the size of a group can be varied, and 
the simplification which it affords of the difficulties 
attending seats with backs. The disadvantages are 
the greater area covered by the class, which increases 
the difficulty of control, and decreases the available 
floor space ; the difficulty of concentrating a class for 
oral teaching ; the greater expense ; and the increased 
trouble if the desks are to be kept properly in their 
places, without being screwed down. Where this 
trouble is not taken, the irregular lines, straggling 
scattered arrangement, and varying widths of gangway 
give a slovenly look to the school, which is very un- 
pleasant. In the long length system of arrangement 
the desks are made to seat six, eight, or even more 
children each, and are almost invariably grouped three 
deep, as suggested by the Committee of Council ; 
though they are often useful arranged in fours where 
the school is wide enough to allow of this. The boys 
o 



194 Organization. 

are reached from the back of each row by gangways 
just wide enough for the teacher to pass easily be- 
tween each desk and the next. This arrangement 
increases the width required between the desks, it is 
a little more trouble to reach individual scholars, and 
a child leaving is apt to disturb other pupils. The 
advantages are — the floor space is economized, the 
classes can be readily concentrated, the desks are not 
easily disarranged, the cost is less, and the work can 
be examined more readily from behind than at the 
side. The practical difficulties of providing at the 
same time backed seats, easy means of ingress and 
egress, proper distance of seat from desk, and such an 
arrangement as will allow the child to stand up in his 
place, are very great, and cannot be said to be solved 
with complete success in any existing desk intended 
to seat more than one. The swing seat previously 
mentioned is perhaps the nearest attempt. 

When children are brought out of the desks on to 
the floor they should be placed well in front of the 
teacher, and may be arranged in a semi-circle, hollow 
square, circle, or phalanx, according to the teacher's 
taste. It is a common practice to mark these stand- 
ing places every morning with chalk. A better plan 
is to fix the best positions, and mark the lines with 
copper nails, having good sized flat heads. These are 
readily seen and need no renewing. 

3. Teacher's Desks, &c. — For the master's or mis- 
tress's desk the best pattern is the one like an office 
writing table, strongly made with drawers down each 
side and a shallow drawer in the middle, the space for 
knees and feet being closed in front, and fitted with a 
narrow shelf about 8 or io inches from the top. It 
is better to have the top itself flat, and employ a 



The School and its Appointments. 195 

movable slope for writing upon. The desk should be 
raised on the platform about 6 or 8 inches high. The 
head teacher's desk should be so placed that every 
child in the large room may be easily seen from it, 
and, this being secured, it should be as much out of 
the way as possible. 

Every girl's school should have a mistress's work- 
table. This should have one part of the top to open, 
with space for materials, &c, underneath, and lower 
down two or three good drawers. The opposite side 
to the one which opens^'may, if thought desirable,, 
have a leaf, which can be raised when greater space- 
is required for cutting out, &c. In well-furnished 
schools the teachers of the principal classes are each 
provided with a small light desk, having a receptacle 
for the teacher's books at the top. These should be 
made sufficiently high to be used by the teacher while 
standing. They should be placed on castors, and be 
light enough to be readily moved. In large schools 
at least, there should be a strong reading stand for 
occasional use in Scripture or collective lessons, and 
for other purposes. 

4. Cupboards. — There should be one or two large 
cupboards as required to hold new books and appa- 
ratus, and a smaller cupboard for each two adjoining 
classes (or a single class if a large one), in which 
copy-books, reading books, slates, dusters, &c, maybe 
kept. In small schools class-boxes will be sufficient. 
Under one of the large cupboards a drawing board 
rack is often useful. In the case of a school possess- 
ing a library, and a collection of articles for lessons, 
proper receptacles will be needed for these. All cup- 
boards should be well and strongly made, the doors be- 
ing carefully fitted to shut close so as to exclude dust. 



196 Organization. 

5. Forms. — A few loose forms will always be found 
useful for special purposes ; they should have seats 
of not less than 8 or 9 inches in width, should be 
sufficiently strong not to give way in the middle, and 
should not be of too great a length. 

6. Curtains. — In many schools curtains are pro- 
vided to isolate the classes when in the desks. They 
help to confine attention, and somewhat deaden the 
sound, but they often interfere seriously with the 
light from the side. It is a mistake to hang them, as 
is commonly done, in the middle of the gangway. 
Children cannot leave the class, or the teacher enter 
among the boys, when this is so, without disturbing 
the curtain, and thereby adding considerably to the 
wear. It should be hung on one side nearly close to 
one group of desks, so as to leave each group one 
free gangway. Various materials are in use for cur- 
tains ; as baize, moreen, or twill. The rod from which 
the curtains are hung should not be driven into the 
wall, but be taken through and have a plate on the 
other side. The free end may be supported by alight 
chain from the roof. 

7. Hammocks or cots. — In large infant schools there 
should be three or four cots or hammocks in the 
babies' room, so that any little ones who become 
tired and sleepy during hot weather may be put to 
rest. Hammocks, like large canvas trays, after the 
French fashion, with rope and ring fittings for fasten- 
ing to hooks or brackets from the walls, have the ad- 
vantage that they may be rolled up and the brackets 
turned to the wall when not in use ; thus leaving the 
space free. 

8. Miscellaneous. — A suitable chair should be pro- 
vided for the head teacher's desk ; and a few ordinary 



The School and its Appointments. 197 

chairs for the use of visitors, and for the occasional 
use of the teachers in girls' schools, who ought not to 
be allowed to stand all day. Every school containing 
little children, which is warmed by fireplaces, should 
have these well protected by guards. Among small 
items of furniture may be mentioned, a map-stick, 
ink-well trays, can for filling ink-wells, a gong or bell, 
pen and pencil boxes, and a chalk box. 



198 Organization. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE CHILDREN. 

Directly the practice of instructing a number of 
individuals by addressing them all at the same time 
came into use, classification became a necessity. It 
is evident that the more nearly the children of a group 
are on the same intellectual level, both of ability and 
attainments, the more perfectly can the instruction 
be suited to their needs, the greater will be the power 
of emulation, and the larger the number becomes 
which can be taught together with success. In pro- 
portion as the classification is bad will the extent of 
the teaching influence be decreased. 

The difficulties which lie in the way of a perfect 
classification are numerous, such as wide range of 
acquirements with only few children ; the great dif- 
ferences of power, not only to grasp what is taught, 
but to advance, and the impossibility of judging of 
this in the case of new pupils ; the fact that if all 
start together there will soon be conspicuous diver- 
sities needing further readjustment ; the marked 
dissimilarities of ability with respect to different 
subjects ; the diverse periods at which the faculties 
begin to act with sufficient strength to be of use, a 
child being frequently dull in certain directions up to 
a particular stage and then shooting rapidly ahead ; 



The Classification of the Children. 199 

the necessity of meeting in the best way the claims 
of individual and simultaneous instruction ; the need 
for varied treatment according to the character and 
idiosyncrasies of the pupils ; the differences of con- 
stitution, and of the effect of studies upon health ; 
variations of interest in school work and of anxiety 
to progress, arising from home influences, advantages, 
and previous treatment ; and the frequent deficiency 
in the requisite number of teachers to officer all 
suitable divisions well. All these points show how 
cautiously the teacher should proceed if the best 
effects are to be obtained, and how much judgment is 
required to adjust the balance properly, to give each 
element its due weight and no more. We have to 
fix upon certain points as forming a roughly correct 
criterion, and strike an average. We must be content 
with approximate results ; nor is an exceedingly 
minute and exact classification to be wished for. Up 
to a certain point difference is valuable ; it provokes 
more emulation, gives greater variety to the work, and 
allows the teacher greater freedom. The difficulty is 
so to balance requirements, as to fix the proper max- 
imum and minimum points for the classes, and in 
fairly large schools this is practically not great. 

A good classification places each child under the 
best possible average conditions of work ; it provides 
him with appropriate subjects of study, and puts him 
in the most fitting position to profit by the teaching : 
it ranks him with the most suitable companions for 
the stimulus of emulation to act ; and it enables the 
general business of the group to be so conducted that 
the action of each may tend to the benefit of all. 

The consideration of some of the above points led 
at first to the adoption of a separate classification for 



200 Organization. 

each subject. This had the advantage of an exact 
adaptation of studies, it brought the children into 
competition with a large number of others, and into 
contact with several cultivated minds instead of one 
only ; but it was practically attended with much trou- 
ble and inconvenience, and was not so desirable a 
thing as it seemed. Not only was much time wasted 
and the proper distribution of work as to noise and 
position of classes interfered with, but it humored 
fancies for particular studies at an age when all-round 
cultivation is the thing needed. It also weakened 
the respect for position and the motives to exer- 
tion ; a boy feeling no shame for neglect of, or back- 
wardness in, some subjects, so long as he stood 
well in others. As all the school was employed at 
the same time in the same work it prevented the 
master distributing his time among the various classes 
in the most efficient way. The great difficulties 
in working soon induced teachers to abandon the 
manifold classification, and group the subjects into 
three sets : (i) reading and literary subjects ; (2) arith- 
metic, and allied branches ; (3) mechanical subjects, 
such as writing, &c. On these the classification was 
based. The small importance of the last, however, 
so far as classification is concerned, led to its aban- 
donment as one of the bases ; and thus the twofold 
arrangement was arrived at, founded on the mathe- 
matical side of the work on the one hand, and the 
literary on the other. There is much to be said for 
this system of grouping, but the fixing of the code 
standards, necessitating the bringing of all the chil- 
dren of one stage up to a certain general level, has 
led to the almost universal adoption of the single 
system of classification in elementary schools. The 



The Classification of the Children. 201 

great advantages of this are the simplicity in working, 
the prevention of one-sided development, and the cer- 
tainty that all subjects of instruction included in the 
curriculum will receive their proper share of attention 
from all the children. 

In some of the schools of America, and elsewhere, the 
system is in vogue of limiting the work of each teacher to 
instruction in one or more subjects, which, knowing most 
perfectly, he can best teach ; and then making the classes 
circulate from teacher to teacher for their various lessons. 
It is claimed that when the instruction is thus given by those 
who become more or less specialists, it is of a higher and 
more useful character, that the children get more breadth of 
view from contact with different minds, that the teacher with 
a narrower range of work is able to make more perfect pre- 
paration, and concentrate his attention on the methods re- 
quired. The work, however, when once learned would lack 
variety, soon grow monotonous, and probably end in a 
mechanical routine. The plan directs the teacher's attention 
too exclusively to instruction, and too little to the need of 
knowing the scholar's disposition and peculiarities. The 
formation of the child's character would be everybody's, and 
hence practically nobody's, business. When a teacher has 
a class continuously under his control, he feels the respon- 
sibility more keenly of looking after their general welfare; 
there arises a sympathy and good feeling between him and 
his class, which not only stimulates energy, but smooths 
many a difficulty. If he has to deal with every class in 
turn, his influence has to be scattered over so great a number, 
that he feels little interest in the children beyond their 
success in the particular subject for which he is responsible. 
Discipline becomes much more difficult to maintain by 
moral power, and hence becomes more artificial in its 
character. If information were everything required by the 
child, more might be said for the plan. The system gene- 
rally adopted in Germany of fixing a teacher at one stage of 



202 Organ ization. 

work until he becomes a specialist in this, and of bringing 
the children into contact with a different teacher every 
stage they rise, is much less objectionable ; though it can 
scarcely be doubted that, with English teachers at least, con- 
tinuance at the same standard work year after year would 
not be a gain either to the teachers or to the children. 

The word class came through the Latin from a 
root meaning to call, and hence in its original form 
was applied to any assembly called together for some 
purpose. As commonly employed in connection with 
schools class stands for any group of children arranged 
together for teaching ; but in a technical sense — as 
used in the examination schedule for instance — it 
is a fixed group standing together on the regis- 
ters, bearing a certain number, and as a rule 
forming the ordinary working division. The size of 
the actual teaching division may vary within certain 
limits from hour to hour, or day to day, according to 
the distribution of teachers, or the needs of the 
subject in hand ; the technical classes are invariable 
for the year, except in so far as they are modified by 
promotions. 

When for certain subjects, which may be taught 
by a skilled teacher in large groups, we combine two, 
or it may be several, of the ordinary working classes, 
we usually denominate these sections ; or we may 
apply the term to certain fixed large divisions of the 
school, each comprehending several of the register 
classes. The subdivisions of the ordinary working 
classes into groups of ten or twelve are almost uni- 
versally called drafts. It may be said that we owe 
the use of drafts to Lancaster, classes to Bell, and 
sections to Stow. 

In very many of the schools of America and on the Con- 



The Classification of the Children. 203 

tinent the children are graded. Grades differ from classes 
principally in that they are based on an arrangement of 
studies suitable for different ages, and hence may be large 
or small according to circumstances ; while classes depend 
mostly upon attainments and teaching requirements. Each 
grade, if sufficiently large, may be divided into classes in 
the ordinary way. Thus if in all English schools the pupils 
were divided according to the standards, and the teaching 
divisions of these were never allowed to extend beyond the 
standard of which they form a part, we should have a system 
of grades, very similar to that in use in America : in all 
schools the number of grades would be fixed, and the num- 
ber of classes would depend upon the size, &c. In Prussia, 
where all children are compelled to begin school work at 
the same age, each of these grades really covers one year's 
work. A- rigid system of this kind has administrative ad- 
vantages, but it has its defects so far as the children are 
concerned, as will be noted when we speak of age. 



A. Practical Considerations respecting 
Classification. 

1. The first thing is to estimate correctly the 
extent of the boys' attainments, and to do this requires 
a searching examination in the branches selected as 
tests. We have to rely upon the information gained, 
as shown by this examination, and upon apparent in- 
telligence. The parents' estimate of a child's knowl- 
edge or ability must be received with caution. Where 
previous progress has been uniform in all the three 
rudimentary subjects, there is not much difficulty; 
but where considerable diversity in this respect exists, 
it becomes necessary to balance the claims of one sub- 
ject against another. It seems natural to adopt as the 
main test the one of the three subjects which is most 



204 Organization. 

dependent upon sound class teaching. This is un- 
doubtedly arithmetic. Writing is mechanical and 
the instruction mainly individual. Reading is mostly 
a matter of corrected practice, and for this the groups 
may be subdivided if required. Backward children 
again may be much more easily and successfully 
coached in reading than in arithmetic. In case then 
we have to decide respecting progress in these two sub- 
jects, the latter should have the most weight attached 
to it. Cases of exceptional unevenness of attainment 
will become fewer and fewer as regular attendance at 
school is enforced ; the most difficult ones now met 
with are those in which the child has been previously 
educated at a private school. In such cases more 
attention should for a time be directed to those sub- 
jects in which the pupil is below the common level. 

2. The size of the school often largely affects the sat- 
isfactoriness of the classification. Where the range of 
knowledge is small — for instance in schools confined 
to higher or lower standards — classification is much 
simplified. Village schools often afford considerable 
trouble. The larger the school, other things being 
equal, the more exact may the classification be made. 

3. The last standard passed is the first rough test, 
and should settle the group to which the child should 
belong ; though in a large school there may be several 
classes in the group preparing for the same standard, 
and other considerations will determine where he 
should be placed. No intermixture of classes or stand- 
ards is allowed on the examination schedule : hence 
when a boy has passed a certain standard, but is very 
backward (it may be he has been away from school 
for some time), it is sometimes difficult to place him 
well. His attainments would lead us to put him with 



The Classification of the Children. 205 

boys of a lower standard than the one he should be 
preparing for, and this would lead to confusion. If 
he is very far behind, it is better to place him where 
he will be only a little below the general level, and 
insert his name on the schedule among the exceptions. 

4. The number and quality of the teachers need also 
to be taken into consideration in settling the limits 
of the classes. The number of separate groups must 
not be more than can be efficiently officered, and each 
class must not be larger, or require a wider range of 
teaching, than the teacher into whose charge it is to 
be given can well manage. It is a mistake to give 
any teacher, whether certificated or not, a class of the 
size we sometimes hear talked of as answering on the 
continent. No teacher can, under average conditions, 
teach 80 or 100 children with thorough efficiency in 
the ordinary branches of instruction. 

5. The subjects to be taught largely influence the 
suitability of a certain size of class. Oral teaching 
may often effectively be given to large groups, and 
hence for some lessons, where circumstances will ad- 
mit, two or even more classes, according to their size, 
may be combined. For other lessons, as arithmetic, 
the ordinary classes, say of 30 children, seem most 
suitable ; while reading, requiring as it does a large 
amount of individual practice — which unlike the case 
of writing cannot be effectively obtained unless one 
boy is taken at a time — is best taught in small drafts 
drawn from the classes. 

6. Age should not as a rule be allowed much 
weight in classification. Even under the most per- 
fect and long continued system of national education, 
it can never be a sound principle on which to group 
children for teaching. Its employment as a classi- 



2o6 Organization. 

fication test supposes a uniformity of growth in chil- 
dren which does not exist and that each faculty conies 
into useful activity at the same time in all children 
and develops at a similar rate; whereas the power 
to apply the mind in a particular way frequently 
commences in different children at very diverse ages, 
acts with much irregularity, and shows considerable 
variations in the rapidity of its growth. As a general 
test, then, age occupies a very subordinate place ; but 
there are a few cases where it must be taken into 
account. 

A child may have parents who feel no interest in educa- 
tion, and hence may have been allowed to spend his time at 
home, or he may have been neglected from other causes, 
till compelled. by the law to attend school. His ignorance 
would lead us to place him, perhaps, in the lowest class in 
the school, or nearly so, among boys altogether his juniors. 
But this would be an evil in many ways. He will probably 
associate his degradation with learning, and so be prejudiced 
against it ; he will feel himself aggrieved, and oppose him- 
self to the school which has so treated him ; lastly, the 
hopelessness of rising so far as to join those of his own age 
will be likely to dishearten him, and he will be inclined to 
let things take their chance. His influence over his class- 
fellows, not from his age alone, but from his greater ex- 
perience and the natural way in which he assumes command, 
may be of a very pernicious kind. His knowledge of evil 
will probably be much more extended than theirs, his ex- 
ample an evil one, and he is likely to be a ringleader in 
mischief, or perhaps to play the part of a petty tyrant over 
his comrades. Here, then, for the good of himself and 
others, we must make allowances, place him on account of 
his age considerably higher than we should otherwise do, 
and encourage and help him as much as possible. 

7. Keadjustment and promotion need much more at- 



The Classification of the Children. 207 

tention than they seem to receive. The year's work, 
laid down in the * standard ' requirements, indicates 
the amount of work which a child of average ability 
under ordinary circumstances should be able to accom- 
plish well. There are doubtless, on one side, a few 
very dull and backward children, who are unduly 
strained in order to bring them up to the necessary 
level in the time ; but there are, on the other, many 
quick and intelligent scholars, who can accomplish 
more, but who are kept back and made to go over 
day after day exercises they can perform with ease, 
while attention is given to the dull ones. One of the 
very worst features of our present practice is this ten- 
dency to reduce all to a dead level of acquirement. 
To those who could progress the retardation till the 
examination is passed is a great evil. They find time 
for mischief, they grow weary of this intellectual 
treadmill, by which they constantly move but never 
advance ; they frequently become irregular ; they 
pick up indolent and inattentive habits ; they interfere 
with their slow comrades, and not infrequently retro- 
grade themselves. This state of things should not 
be allowed to exist. Frequent promotions are to be 
deprecated, nor should a child be moved until he is 
thoroughly well grounded, but there seems to be no 
reason why at the end of six or nine months those 
who can perform their standard work easily should 
not be put up. They might be made to keep up 
their class subjects from their books, and be worked 
in their proper standard again for a few weeks just 
before the examination. Another plan would be to 
form those who pass the test examination into a draft, 
and let them sit by themselves in the class and work 
largely from their books at more advanced exercises. 



2o8 Organization. 



b. Mixed Schools. 

The question of the co-education of the sexes is 
one which has been very much discussed, especially in 
America, and conclusions the opposite of one another 
have been arrived at. In England, except in the case 
of Wesleyan schools, which from their early adoption 
of Stow's principles adhere to the plan in many 
instances, mixed schools (excluding infant schools) 
have nearly always been adopted as an economical 
expedient, and quite apart from the question of the 
benefit or not arising from the admixture of boys and 
girls. 

The limited number of the children to be provided 
for in many country places, and the unavoidable waste- 
fulness in such cases of supplying two schools, led 
naturally to the grouping of the sexes together under 
one head teacher. In Scotland Stow's influence is 
still felt, so that many of the schools are mixed, and 
the plan is much employed in Holland and Switzer- 
land. The system has not found much favor in Ger- 
many or France ; and where it is employed in the 
latter country, the Government circular requires the 
separation of the sexes by a partition which must be 
at least a metre and a half high. In America, how- 
ever, the system is strongly believed in, and prevails 
to a very large extent in the lower grades of primary 
schools. It is also adopted very frequently in second- 
ary schools, and even in some of the colleges. In 
England the head teacher is generally a master, in 
America more frequently a mistress. 

In the case of villages the plan is undoubtedly a 
valuable makeshift. Here, too, the children knowing 



The Classification of the Children. 209 

one another, less objection can be urged against its 
use than in the case of town schools. The general 
view taken in England, that beyond the infant age it 
is better wherever the circumstances will allow to 
have separate schools, is probably the right one ; 
though the evidence on many sides seems conclusive 
that mixed schools can be made, not only efficient, 
but to possess in numerous instances advantages in 
the way of general training. ' Where there has been,' 
says an American writer, 'a thorough and proper 
trial of the co-education of boys and girls, the testi- 
mony seems to be strongly and almost exclusively 
favorable to that system. In many of the large cities 
of the Union this is the prevalent plan of organiza- 
tion, and the reports of superintendents are quite 
emphatic in its approval.' 

The objections generally urged against the plan, 
many of which no doubt obtain to a greater or less 
degree, are, that the education of boys and girls, 
having somewhat different ends in view, cannot be 
properly made identical in the means : that a uniform 
discipline cannot be administered without much 
injury, the girls needing often to be treated in quite a 
different way from the boys ; that the girls become 
forward and self-assertive, and lose, in a way never 
to be regained, that innate modesty and sense of pro- 
priety, that delicacy of both feeling and action, which 
distinguishes the sex when properly trained ; that the 
girls having to learn needlework and other things, in 
addition to the ordinary subjects, can scarcely be ex- 
pected to make as much progress in these as boys, and 
for them always to figure as laggards is unfair ; and 
finally, that where a master is employed there is no 
room for the development of those little affectionate 



210 Organization. 

traits which distinguish the intercourse of girls with a 
mistress. In opposition to this it is held, by those who 
have worked the system long and thoroughly, that 
when properly carried out the evils do not exist : that 
the girls exert a refining influence upon the rougher 
and coarser natures of the opposite sex, and that the 
stimulus of working with boys improves their intel- 
lectual tone ; that the shy, timorous, nervous manner 
of many girls is improved, and greater independence 
of action, greater self-reliance implanted ; that the 
system tends to check that rudeness and disrespect to 
women which-are unfortunately so common, and that 
the girls brought up with boys regard them less as 
objects of wonder, and are thus less romantically 
inclined. 

After all, it seems the question is mainly one of 
good or bad government. Under a judicious and 
skilful teacher, alive to the needs of both sexes, and 
aware of the evils likely to arise, a mixed school may 
serve its purpose admirably ; but there can be little 
doubt that the benefits sometimes claimed are extrava- 
gantly stated, and are not realized in numerous cases, 
while effects of a prejudicial character arise, especially 
to the girls. Where the system is in working great 
care should be exercised ; separate playgrounds and 
cloak-rooms should be provided ; the offices and their 
approaches must be perfectly detached ; the sexes 
should not be allowed to mix promiscuously in the 
class, but be grouped in different parts ; and the girls 
should not act as monitors. 



The Qualifications, &c. of the Teachers. 211 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE QUALIFICATIONS, DUTIES, AND DISTRIBUTION 
OF THE TEACHERS. 

' I do verily believe,' says Professor Wayland, ' that 
nothing so cultivates the powers of a man's own mind! 
as thorough, generous, liberal and indefatigable teach- 
ing ' ; and we may add, no profession affords greater 
opportunities of usefulness, no labor is fraught with 
more momentous results, or to the true worker affords 
greater satisfaction when successfully performed, than 
that of the teacher. Almost everything, however, 
depends upon the spirit in which the work is carried 
on. If it is viewed merely as a means of earning a 
respectable livelihood, and the teacher is always on 
the look out for something to turn up; if its troubles 
and difficulties are magnified by being dwelt upon, 
and we refuse to count its pleasures ; if the children 
are looked upon as so many ' bristling fragments of 
humanity', in whom perversity, stupidity, and rebel- 
liousness are the most strongly marked features ; if 
the only end aimed at is the pressing children through 
a certain minimum of required instruction ; if it be- 
comes to us the reluctant performance of a spiritless 
routine of duty, — then its possibilities of weariness, 
disgust, and disheartenment are almost boundless, 
and it grows to be a slavery to which Egyptian bond- 



212 Organization. 

age were preferable. ' Teaching is the noblest of all 
professions,' says Mr. Fitch, 'but it is the sorriest of 
trades ' ; and he adds, ' he who takes his work as a 
dose is likely to find it nauseous.' 

If, then, the teacher would perform his work, not 
only with profit to the scholars but with happiness 
and satisfaction to himself, it is necessary that he 
should take a high view of his duty ; he must 
endeavor to cultivate those qualities which will 
enable him to perform it successfully, with the mini- 
mum of weariness, worry, and irritation, and be ever 
on the alert for improvement, or more skilled methods 
of procedure. He should be an enthusiast, but 
no visionary ; a man of many devices, yet fanatically 
attached to none ; hopeful, and inclined to take a 
cheerful view of things, yet not easily deceived by 
appearances ; full of sympathy for little children, and 
prepared to make all due allowances for natural way- 
wardness ; having faith in himself without arrogance 
or conceit, and while fully recognizing his own re- 
sponsibility, ready to give a full share of credit to the 
efforts of those associated with him in the work. He 
must take care also to be at all times a worthy 
example to his children, bearing in mind the strength 
of the tendency in them to imitation. There is no 
calculating the mischief which an irritable gloomy 
temper may do. 

His cheerfulness should keep his scholars on good 
terms with themselves, and encourage the flagging 
efforts of his subordinates. He should be able to 
interpret the workings of any boy's mind in terms of 
that mind, and not heedlessly put a construction upon 
them in accordance with his own habits of thought and 
action. He should be, as it were, in electric commu- 



The Qualifications, &c. of the Teachers. 213 

nication with every part of his school ; able on the 
instant to interpret action aright, and ready at once to 
remedy any derangement of the machinery, or make 
good any broken sympathetic connection. His influ- 
ence should be felt at all points — 'an influence unseen, 
perhaps, and unobtrusive, but all-pervading ; free 
from the slightest taint of distrust or suspicion, but 
checking insubordination before the thought of it has 
taken form ; exacting a faithful performance of duties, 
yet encouraging by its inspiration before despondency 
has attained a conscious existence ; soft and gentle 
as a mother's hand on the brow of a sick child, yet 
holding the reins of authority, and controlling the very 
motives of action, like the hand of fate.' 1 

Energy must not deteriorate into restlessness or 
noise, vigilance into espionage, confidence into neg- 
lect of precautions, or system into a mere mechanical 
routine. 

A good teacher will never rest content with the 
present state of things, however excellent ; but at the 
same time he will recognize exactly the limits to which 
a thing is practicable and useful. His methods, both 
of management and of teaching, should always be in a 
progressive state. They should grow from within — 
the better elements gradually thrusting outwards 
those which are less satisfactory — and not by patch- 
ing from without, until all* unity of design is lost. 
He should not attempt to fit stereotyped plans to all 
circumstances ; what we want is more power of in- 
vention, of adaptation, more originality and less blind 
imitation. He should be of an inquiring turn of mind, 
given to make careful observations of child-nature, 
and to try experiments in teaching or government. 

1 G. Howland in * Education* 



214 Organization. 

He should strive to cultivate the same simple, 
thoughtful seeking after truth which distinguished 
Faraday. He will not begin all sorts of grand re- 
forms and new schemes without counting the cost, 
and considering carefully what good is likely to accrue 
from them. When a reform has been decided upon, 
gradual and steady insistence is what is needed — all 
violent and sudden changes in school-work are to be 
deprecated. A sudden burst of fiery zeal is almost 
always followed by a frosty reaction. 

A word must suffice about the teacher's reading. 
The habit is one of great value to him not only in 
making him acquainted with the work of teachers in 
the past — this is the smaller gain ; but in preventing 
his becoming narrow-minded, in ridding him of that 
'shoppiness' which clings more or less to most profes- 
sions, and in affording a wholesome and pleasant 
means of recreation. It provides him also with an 
abundance of illustrations, and often adds to the life 
and clearness of explanations. Travel and the obser- 
vation of men and things are additional means tend- 
ing toward the same ends. Anything which will add 
to his * culture in matters of general human interest ' 
should not be lightly cast aside ; and even a ' good 
reliable hobby' has very numerous uses. 

Teaching, it is true, is a difficult art, but with 
the wish to succeed, by thoughtful study and patient 
practice, and the careful noting of the lessons of 
experience, it can be acquired in an eminently useful 
degree by almost every one ; and the reward to him 
who is earnest in his work is well worth the expendi- 
ture both of time and of trouble. 



The Qualifications, &c. of the Teachers. 215 



a. The Staffing of Schools. 

The teachers now recognized by the Education 
Department are, Code of 1882, (1) pupil teachers, (2) 
assistant teachers, (3) provisionally certificated teach- 
ers, (4) certificated teachers, (5) evening school teach- 
ers. The following are the Code requirements with 
reference to the staff of a school : — 

It is one of the conditions of grant that the principal 
teacher shall be certificated ; there are, however, several ex- 
ceptional cases. (See Code 1882, Art. 93.) 

'In estimating what is the minimum school staff re- 
quired, the Department considers the principal certificated 
teacher to be sufficient for an average attendance of sixty, 
each additional certificated teacher for an average attend- 
ance of eighty, each assistant teacher or provisionally cer- 
tificated teacher for an average attendance of sixty, each 
pupil teacher for an average attendance of forty, each can- 
didate for a pupil teachership, on probation under Article 
40, for an average attendance of twenty.' 

'In mixed, girls', and infant schools a woman over 
eighteen years of age and approved by the Inspector, who 
is employed during the whole of the school hours in the 
general instruction of the scholars and in teaching needle- 
work, is accepted as equivalent to a pupil teacher.' 

' Where vacancies in the office of any teacher, other 
than the principal teacher, occur in the course of a school 
year, and are duly reported to the Department, temporary 
monitors employed in place of the teachers causing the 
vacancies are recognized as part of the school staff, one 
monitor being accepted as equivalent to a pupil teacher or 
candidate, and two monitors as equivalent to an assistant 
teacher or assistant certificated teacher, provided always 
that the vacancies are supplied not later than the end of the 
school year by the appointment of duly qualified teachers.' 



2 \6 Organization. 



£>' 



1 Teachers appointed in the course of a school year are,, 
as a rule, recognized by the Department only from the date 
at which their appointment is notified to the^Department.' 

' No grant is made to an infant class with an average 
attendance of more than sixty unless it is taught by a cer- 
tificated teacher, nor to an infant class with an average at- 
tendance of more than forty unless it is taught by a teacher 
over eighteen years of age approved by the Inspector.' 

A common misapprehension seems to exist as to 
what constitutes a completely efficient school staff so 
far as the number of teachers is concerned. The Code 
requirements are not put forward as indicating a 
sufficient staff for obtaining the best results, but as- 
showing the lowest number of teachers which a school 
can have to escape a fine for defective teaching power. 
This ' starvation minimum,' as it has been called,, 
should be exceeded wherever the funds of the school 
will admit. To teach 40 children continuously is 
more than ought to be expected of any young pupil - 
teacher. It is now held by many of the larger school 
boards, and by the better informed managers of 
voluntary schools, that a much more liberal provision 
must be made, if the schools are to do their work so as 
to give the maximum of intelligence and usef ulness-^- 
if they are to give heed not only to the amount of 
information required for an examination pass, but also 
to those educational results which have been too long* 
neglected. Professor Huxley's Committee reported 
to the London School Board, in 1871, ' that the mini- 
mum number of teachers for a jtmior or a senior school 
of 500 children should be sixteen — viz. one principal 
teacher, four assistant certificated teachers, and eleven 
pupil-teachers ; and that the teaching staff should be 
increased by one assistant certificated teacher and 



The Qualifications, &c. of the Teachers. 217 

three pupil-teachers for every additional 1 20 children.' 
This is two pupil-teachers over the minimum require- 
ment for every 120 children. At the present time 
' the School Board for London allows about one assist- 
ant or two pupil-teachers for every 60, or fractional 
part of 60 children after the first 30, and other boards 
are equally liberal in their arrangements, by means 
of which thorough efficiency, and as a natural result 
increased grants are secured.' 

The forty children per pupil-teacher limit has been in 
force since 1859. The Revised Code of 1861 placed no 
limit upon the number of pupil-teachers employed, so that 
the whole staff beyond the head teacher might be so com- 
posed. In 187 1 the first New Code was issued, and next 
year the following article was added, to take effect after 
April 1, 1873, as one of the conditions: — 'That not more 
than^^r pupil-teachers are engaged in the school for every 
certificated teacher serving in it.' This number was sub- 
sequently reduced to three ; in 1880 to two (to take effect 
March 1881) ; and now finally by Code of 1882 the number 
of pupil-teachers recognized by the Department must not 
exceed three for the principal teacher and one for each 
certificated assistant teacher. 

There is no doubt that in some, if not many, 
schools much power is lost by faulty distribution of 
the work ; the teachers not having those duties 
assigned to them which they can best perform, or not 
being placed in circumstances where their work will 
tell with greatest effect. 



b. The Master. 

The chief school duties of the master are of four 
kinds — (1) organization, (2) teaching, (3) superinten- 



2 1 8 Organization. 

dence and conduct of work, (4) examination. How 
his time is to be distributed among these various 
claims will depend upon the size of the school, the 
general arrangements, and the kind of assistants he 
has. 

He has first to arrange and distribute the school 
work in the most effective way. He should lay down 
periodically a certain syllabus of study, and let each 
teacher know definitely, not only what duties are 
required of him, but what work his class will be 
expected to master by a given time. To prevent loss 
of time each teacher should keep by him and make 
himself acquainted with the portion of the time table 
which more immediately concerns him. 

In a school of moderate size the master has not 
only to superintend the working of the school, 
examine into the work of his subordinates, and give 
occasional lessons to the various classes, but hold 
himself responsible also for the teaching of one 
special section. This should be by all means the 
most advanced. Careful logical teaching is here nec- 
essary, to train the children to think clearly, rapidly, 
and correctly, and the master, as the most skilful and 
accomplished teacher, can do this most efficiently. 
Further, it is here that the disciplinary influence 
arising from contact with the master will tell with 
greatest effect, and go a long way towards forming 
that healthy public opinion and respect for authority, 
which tell so powerfully upon the whole school when 
they obtain among the elder pupils. 

In very large schools, while the master should give 
as much attention as possible to the teaching of the 
higher classes, he will be unable to carry on the whole 
working of any one group, and should limit himself to 



The Qualifications ; &c. of the Teachers. 219 

the more important lessons. Much more time will 
need to be spent in the work of general arrangement 
and conduct, in the supervision and testing of the 
work of his assistants, and in giving lessons here and 
there as he finds he can best make his teaching tell. 
Though the master may expect the co-operation 
of his assistants in all matters which further the 
interests of the school, he should hold himself directly- 
responsible for all inflictions of corporal punishment, 
the inspection of home lessons, the dealing with late- 
coming, attention to absentees, the daily review of 
the children as to cleanliness and neatness, and all 
communications with the parents. In dealing with 
parents much circumspection is needed. It is highly 
important to secure their goodwill and co-operation. 
The way in which the teacher is spoken of at home 
has much influence on the behavior of the child at 
school. Directly or indirectly parents get to know, 
at least, any defects in the management of the school, 
are often very unreasonable, and inclined to magnify 
small matters. The master should listen patiently to 
any complaints, and, if they are of real moment, should 
do his utmost to remedy the defect ; if frivolous, he 
should point out to the parent the mischievous effects 
paltry complaints are likely to have on their children. 
He should make it clear that school rules have been 
carefully framed, and must not be broken ; but while 
he firmly adheres to what he thinks right, he should 
treat a parent who differs from him with courtesy. 
Any off-hand assertion of authority, or loss of tem- 
per, is sure to damage his reputation, and that of the 
school. An offended parent may do much mischief. 
In particular cases the master may do well to call 
upon the parents, and he should bear in mind that in 



220 Organization. 

many instances he has to convince and influence them 
in order to effectually reach the boy. 

He should not be so burdened with teaching as 
to be worried by the impossibility of performing his 
duties efficiently. He should not be hampered by a 
great number of minor rules and regulations, and 
while he should be ever ready to accept suggestions, 
he should not have the plans of others forced upon 
him without his being consulted in the matter. If 
useless and troublesome restrictions are laid upon him, 
it is his duty courteously but clearly to point out the 
evil consequences likely to ensue. He should be the 
last person to raise the standard of rebellion. If he 
wishes his subordinates to yield a loyal and rational 
obedience to this behests, he should listen to anything 
they may have to say, and be in this, as in other 
matters, an exemplar of his own doctrines. 



c. Adult Assistants. 

Where several assistants are employed each should 
be made responsible for a certain group of children, 
and one or more of the younger pupil-teachers, as re- 
quired, associated with him in the work. The assistant 
should not only take his share in the teaching, but 
should superintend and direct the labors of his 
younger brethren. The most difficult oral lessons and 
explanations he should reserve for himself, and where 
two classes can be united for these the pupil-teacher 
should be allowed to stand by and see the lesson 
taught, and take notes of any special devices. Oc- 
casionally such lessons may be entrusted to the pupil- 
teacher, after he has made careful preparation, the 
assistant or master acting as critic, and making sugges- 



The Qualifications , &c. of the Teachers. 221 

tions or pointing out defects after the lesson is finished. 
So far as the teaching is concerned, each group should 
be taught pretty much as though it were a small school 
in itself, the conditions of work being simplified. 

As the care of the higher classes should be the 
special work of the master, when he takes any partic- 
ular section of the teaching, so the lowest section of 
the school, as being the next post of difficulty and 
importance, should be given to the most skilful, suit- 
able, and energetic assistant. The work at the bottom 
of the school needs a teacher of cheerful, patient, 
vivacious temperament, gifted with much skill in 
fixing attention, and in presenting facts in a vivid and 
interesting way to little children. It is a very great 
mistake to give the lowest group of children to an in- 
experienced or unskilful teacher. The middle classes 
of the school are much the easiest to teach, and any 
want of care and skill does not tell so prejudicially 
here as either above or below. 

An assistant should not be too full of his own 
plans, but ready to defer to the superior knowledge 
and experience of the head-master, to whom he should 
look up as to an elder and more skilful brother whose 
advice is valuable. He should do his best to further 
the aims of the latter, endeavor to enter into the 
spirit of the duty required, and honestly try to carry 
out the general design of the school work. On the 
other hand, the assistant should be treated as a friend. 
The master's dignity should be felt, not seen, and if 
matters are properly managed there will be cordiality 
between the two without undue familiarity. The 
latter is likely to lead to the assistant taking liberties, 
freeing himself from control, and becoming disrespect 
ful in manner. Any suggestions of improvement, 



222 Organization. 

however, he may make should receive attention, and 
any promising plan he may wish to try with his own 
section should receive the master's sanction. 

The work of the assistants should be regularly 
supervised and periodically tested, not as though the 
master doubted their skill or industry, but simply as 
a part of a regular system of inspection and examina- 
tion applying to the whole school. Defects should 
be pointed out to them, and remedies suggested. At 
the same time they should receive full credit for their 
successes. 

d. Pupil-Teachers. 

. The pupil-teachers should be placed according to 
teaching ability, power of command, and experience. 
They should not at first have the entire care and re- 
sponsibility of any class. Their work should be 
graduated as far as possible, so as to become of a 
more educative character, and increase in difficulty 
and freedom from year to year. To give a young 
teacher a class of fifty or sixty children, require him 
to work the whole day, perhaps in a close room, scold 
him if the boys do not make progress, and expect him 
besides to make good headway with his own home 
lessons, is to strain both body and mind ; to destroy 
all liveliness, and produce a jaded irritable being who 
is disgusted with his work, whose interest in methods 
has all gone, and whose only notion of teaching is 
that of a dull never-ending mechanical grind. 

The master should not let anything interfere with 
his duty to teach the pupil-teacher his business ; even 
on the very lowest grounds of securing good results, 
economy of labor and time, and avoidance of trouble, 
it will pay to give attention to the training of a pupil- 



The Qualifications , &c. of the Teachers. 223 

teacher. The great thing is to arouse and foster in 
him a liking for his work, to interest him in teaching, 
and in children. He should be trained to steadiness 
of purpose, and encouraged under difficulty ; should 
not have tasks assigned him too great for his strength ; 
opportunities should be afforded him of seeing lessons 
skilfully taught, and his own efforts should be privately 
criticised in a kindly and suggestive spirit. He should 
be. taught to hold in detestation all flimsiness and 
sham, whether of an intellectual or moral kind, and 
made to feel the value of uprightness, earnestness, and 
resolution. He should not be subjected to too many 
restrictions, and he should be led to see that continued 
progress is necessary. We do not want to make him 
an exact epitome of ourselves, rather an intelligent 
disciple, who, with increased advantages, may event- 
ually carry on the work to a point beyond that which 
we ourselves have reached. Much of the master's in- 
fluence upon the character and success of the pupil- 
teacher will depend upon the way in which he is treated 
when off duty ; the interest taken in him, the chats 
about his tastes and pursuits, the indirect word dropped 
at a suitable moment, and the consistency of the treat- 
ment to which he is subjected both in and out of school. 
Great care and discrimination need to be exercised 
in the selection of candidates. Many of the difficulties 
of the teacher arise from his having accepted hastily 
some boy, it may be of quick parts, but quite unsuited 
to the work of teaching. Good health and spirits, 
general intelligence, and an earnest, upright, teachable 
character, are essentials ; then come sympathy with 
little children, aptitude in managing them, attainments 
and interest in study, and desire to learn to teach. 
General vigor of disposition should also have some 



224 Organization. 

weight : a boy of influence in the playground, skilled 
in games, and to whom his companions defer, will 
often, if suitable in other respects, make the best of 
teachers. Home circumstances and influences must 
always be taken into account. 

Wherever it is possible to free the pupil-teacher 
for a short period each day from duty with a class it 
should be done. The time spent in study will be a 
rest from his ordinary labors, and give encourage- 
ment to the formation of a reading habit. 

The home studies of the pupil-teacher should re- 
ceive careful attention. Regularity of study should 
be insisted upon, and encouragement given to the 
thorough mastery of the necessary subjects. Much 
time is often allowed to be spent on advanced studies 
before the rudimentary ones have been at all soundly 
learned. This generates a taste for novelty, a super- 
ficiality of work, and a disinclination to continuous 
effort at one thing ; all of which prove hindrances to 
real progress. The instruction by the master should.be 
given on some well considered scheme. There should 
be frequent written exercises, and test examinations 
should be given at short periods. Many a young 
teacher, who is creditably acquainted with his work, 
does badly at the annual examinations from want of 
experience. 

Recently a system has been tried in some places 
of instructing the pupil teachers from several schools 
at one centre, by a series of teachers for the various 
subjects. So far as this is intended merely to save 
each master's labor, and be a substitute for his in- 
struction to his own teachers, it is surely a mistake. 
As an additional means of help, and with special 
provision of instruction, it may have its uses. 



The Qualifications, &c. of the Teachers. 225 

With reference to the study of the professional side 
of the work, one or other of two mistakes is very 
frequently made. Either the young teacher receives 
no instruction at all in method, or an advanced treatise 
is put into his hands from which he is unable to select 
the few plain directions he wants, and which proves 
a source of bewilderment rather than help. The first 
code of instructions should be drawn up by the master 
himself, embodying only a few of the most important 
points, which serve as a ground work, or concerning 
which mistakes are likely to be made. Any teacher 
of experience will readily be able to frame such a code 
for the use of his pupil-teachers, in accordance with 
his own views. The following may be of use as an 
illustration of what is meant. 

Suggestions for Pupil-Teachers. 
I. Class Management. 

1. Strive to govern by the eye, not the voice. Stand 
well back from your class so as to see every boy. Have 
dull, backward, and restless boys in front. Separate mis- 
chievous children. 

2. Give as few orders as possible, but be firm in having 
them promptly and thoroughly obeyed when given. Try to 
impress children with the respect due to law. 

3. Good discipline is impossible with children unem- 
ployed. Allow no waste of time in beginning. 

4. Avoid speaking in a loud blustering tone. Be ever 
on the alert, and warn where necessary. Do not scold, 
and never threaten. 

5. Give careful attention to details. Know your boys. 

6. Never sneer at children. Be cautious not to damp 
their natural ardor and gaiety. 

7. Authority should be felt not seen. The need for 

Q 



226 Organization. 

much punishment means, in nearly all cases, weak handling. 
If children are troublesome look to yourself first. 

//. Teaching. 

i. Distinguish clearly in teaching between the means 
and the end. In class teaching every boy must receive 
individual attention. 

2. Do not hurry ; much good work is spoiled by being 
scampered over. 

3. Try to make children think ; do not rest content with 
loading the memory. 

4. Do not waste time in long introductions. Recollect 
there should be a proportion of parts in every lesson. 

5. Let your teaching be varied, not only to keep up 
interest, but that you may reach every boy's mind by some 
means. 

6. A good teacher is constantly a censor of his own 
work. Bear in mind you are forming good or bad teaching 
habits. 

7. Attention must be obtained principally by interest, 
manner, and work ; it cannot be secured by a mere exercise 
of authority. 

8. Remember that the black-board is a great help in 
nearly all lessons. 

9. Learn to detect by the appearance of your class 
whether the children are in sympathy with and following 
you, or not. 

10. Practise all the teaching devices, use none exclu- 
sively. Strive earnestly to attract sympathy and attention 
from your class. Interest the children, and endeavor to 
take every one with you. 

III. ' Oral' Lessons. 

1. Take care that you have a clear aim in view; re- 
member these lessons should be especially educative. 

2. Distinguish carefully between important and unim- 



The Qualifications, &c. of the Teachers. 227 

portant facts. Connect your information as much as pos- 
sible with a few leading truths. 

3. Avoid too wide a range; keep to the view you take 
so as to preserve the unity of your lesson. 

4. Wherever you can do so, without roundabout teaching, 
question the facts from the children, group, and summarize 
them. 

5. Do not overload your lesson with facts; look to the 
sequence of your work; and avoid wandering from your 
subject. 

6. Thoroughly illustrate your lesson. Compare and 
contrast objects where possible : discrimination of diffe- 
rences, and discovery of agreements, are valuable means 
of training. 

IV. Scripture. 

1. A Scripture lesson is a difficult one to teach, and 
hence will need thorough preparation. Remember that it 
should not be a mere history lesson. 

2. Endeavor to make boys feel the practical lesson 
rather than learn it as a matter of mere information. 

3. Be careful to have a distinct object in view, and let 
every part of the lesson tend towards this. 

4. Where the lesson will admit of it sum up by a suitable 
text. 

V. Reading. 

1. Be careful to arrange boys well, and stand well back 
from your class. 

2. Do not attempt too much ; remember that hearing 
boys read is not teaching reading. 

3. In simultaneous reading be very scrupulous to have 
exact imitation of the teacher ; beware of allowing sing-song. 

4. Have words said before they are spelled ; syllable 
words on the black-board ; compare similar words. In the 
lower classes give phonic exercises. 

5. Allow mutual correction, and constantly appeal to 
the black-board in the case of difficult words. 



228 Organization. 

6. Explanations should be sufficient but brief ; a reading 
lesson is not to be made an * oral ' lesson. 

VI. Writing. 
i. Teach, do not merely examine; constantly appeal to 
the black-board for corrections, &c. 

2. See that instructions respecting posture are not only 
given, but carried out. 

3. Make boys show books every few lines, and carefully 
correct errors. 

4. Look to improper spacing, bad joinings, irregularity 
of size, and incorrect formation of the letters. 

VII Dictation. 

1. In this lesson spelling should be taught, not merely 
examined; hence some preparation of the words should 
have been made before giving out. 

2. Leave at least half the time for detection and correc- 
tion of mistakes. 

3. Do not 'give out' the spelling for boys to correct 
from ; let them have something to see. 

4. Be especially careful about correction of errors. 

5. Be very watchful to prevent copying. 

VIII. Arithmetic. 

1. Be careful to ascertain before commencing to teach 
that every boy has the necessary materials. 

2. Arrange the class so as to have backward boys in 
front ; give these a large share of the black-board work and 
of individual help. 

3. Look to the grouping of figures into threes in no- 
tation. 

4. Insist upon a uniform method of working in teaching 
subtraction. Avoid the 'borrowing and carrying' plan. 

5. Distinguish between lessons intended to teach a new 
rule, and lessons of practice. 



The Qualifications, &c. of the Teachers. 229 

6. Be especially watchful and cautious about discipline ; 
endeavor to render copying impossible. As a rule let ad- 
jacent boys have different sums. 

7. Make frequent use of the black-board for illustrations, 
but as a rule dictate examples to be worked 

IX. Grammar. 

1. Remember this is a difficult subject to little children ; 
and that the teacher should therefore do his utmost to render 
the teaching simple, clear, and interesting. 

2. Proceed from known to unknown. In teaching the 
parts of speech give words first, then the name of the class, 
then the definition. 

3. Constantly refer boys back to the definitions as tests. 
Give plenty of exercises. 

4. Teach the rules thoroughly, and let them fix them- 
selves in the children's minds before giving lists of ex- 
ceptions. 

X. History. 

1. Distinguish carefully between important and unim- 
portant events. 

2. Connect facts carefully together; many lessons are 
of little value from being mere collections of fragments. 

3. Teach by vivid lecture in portions, with thorough 
examination by questions at the end of each, and carefully 
sum up the principal points. 

XL Geography. 

1. Bear in mind that one great and common evil is the 
teaching of words instead of ideas. Teach geography, not 
mere names. 

2. It is useful to draw a blank map on the black-board 
for teaching, and then to use the printed map for examina- 
tion. 

3. Let descriptions be vivid but truthful. Carefully sum 
up and impress the important facts. 



230 Organization. 

e. Monitors. 

Though not now officially recognized by the 
department, except to supply until the next inspection 
a deficiency which has arisen in the school staff in 
the course of the school year, monitors may be 
occasionally employed with much advantage in schools 
where the teaching staff is small. The principal 
conditions to be borne in mind in their use are : (1) 
that they should be employed for short periods only, 
so that their duties as teachers may not interfere 
with their work as pupils, and may be viewed in the 
light of a reward ; (2) that they are put to suitable 
work, as hearing repetition of tasks, helping dull 
individuals, giving out dictation, hearing reading of 
lower classes, and examining written exercises ; (3) 
that their work is always under the direct supervision 
and control of one of the regular teachers, and that 
they are instructed how to perform the duty required 
of them. 

In small schools, where the number of teachers is 
necessarily limited compared to the number of 
standards, paid monitors would often form a very 
useful help to the recognized staff of teachers ; and 
the gain from their use would in most cases probably 
lead to an increase in the grant sufficient to cover 
the expense of employment. 



Arrangement of Time and Subjects. 231 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ARRANGEMENT OF TIME AND SUBJECTS — 
TIME TABLES. 

Everyone knows how much more can be done 
when a distinct plan is kept before the mind, than 
when work is taken up in a hap-hazard, desultory 
way, even when the labor is as severe and long 
continued in the one case as in the other. We do 
not spend our strength and time vainly on things of 
little importance ; each part of the work needing 
attention falls into its natural place, and has due 
weight assigned to it ; we do not allow ourselves to 
be governed by our likes and dislikes, as we are very 
apt to be unconsciously ; nor have we to stop and 
think what it were best to do next. All is orderly, 
all is useful ; the machinery is carefully adjusted, the 
friction is reduced to its lowest point, there are no 
jerks, no stoppages, and the work is consequently 
performed with the least amount of strain and the 
greatest measure of success. 

A well considered and carefully arranged scheme 
of work is invaluable in school : it prevents a large 
waste of time, it portions out the work so that every 
faculty is exercised in the best way, and none dispro- 
portionately ; it secures that no subject is neglected, 
and arranges the most suitable time and place for 



232 Organization, 

each lesson ; it confines the attention to one thing at 
once, prevents undue digressions, and settles the 
limits within which the teacher has to accomplish 
each section of his instruction ; it has a moral value 
from the encouragement it gives to habits of order, 
regularity, steadiness, and attention to duty at fixed 
periods ; and it aids the discipline directly by the 
distribution of noise, by the prevention of trouble 
and confusion at the changes of lessons, and by 
lessening the need of punishment for faults arising 
from lack of employment. 

A. General Considerations. 

I. The first things perhaps that strike the atten- 
tion in considering the drawing up of a time table 
are the subjects to be taught. Placing religious- 
instruction apart, the three rudimentary branches — 
reading, writing, and arithmetic — stand first in im- 
portance ; then come the class subjects — grammar,, 
geography, and history ; then extra subjects, such 
as the specific subjects of Schedule IV., singings 
drawing, and in the case of girls' schools needlework. 
Before we can commence to distribute the work into 
portions, we must consider the relative importance of 
each subject at each stage of progress, and hence the 
amount of time to be given to it. It will be found 
that under ordinary circumstances reading requires 
most time in the lowest sections ; that spelling — to 
which it is important to give great attention at this 
stage — comes next ; and then arithmetic, writing, &c. 
In the highest section arithmetic should have most 
time allotted to it, then reading, spelling, and the class 
subjects. In the middle of the school the time to W 



Arrangement of Time and Subjects. 233 

given to the different subjects will be more evenly- 
balanced. We cannot well lay down any hard and 
fast line. Each teacher must examine carefully for 
himself into the existing conditions and capabilities 
of his children, and be guided accordingly. Religious 
instruction must be given at certain fixed times as 
required by section 7 of the Education Act of 1870.* 
In Board Schools ' no religious catechism or religious 
formulary which is distinctive of any particular de- 
nomination ' may be taught. Music is best taken as 
a recreative break between lessons of severer char- 
acter. 

2. Another consideration of primary importance 
is the internal circumstances of the school — the number 
and size both of the classes to be provided for and of 
the rooms at disposal, the number and quality of the 
teachers, and the disposition of the fittings and furni- 
ture. Each of these subjects has already received 
separate treatment. We have to settle the locality 
of every class during each lesson-time, bearing in 
mind the quality of the work to be performed. Arith- 
metic, for instance, is best taught in desks, reading 
on the floor, oral lessons on the gallery in a class 
room, and so on. 

3. The sex of the scholars, the mode of attendance, and 
the length of the school times, will also modify our plans. 
In the case of girls' and mixed schools we have to 
provide for sewing and other lessons, which have not 
to be taken into account in the case of boys ; in- 
fant schools will need a quite different arrangement 
from others ; and the presence of half-time scholars 
will necessitate numerous changes, if such scholars 

1 See ' Regulations ' given pp. 241-44 ; and Sect. 14 of the Educa- 
tion Act, 1870. 



234 Organization. 

are to receive a fair share of attention in all subjects. 
Generally some attend during one part of the day, 
some during the other, and in such cases all the sub- 
jects will need to be provided for during the mornings 
and also during the afternoons of the week. 

4. The length and succession of lessons, again, are 
points needing careful attention. In deciding the 
length of time to be given at once to each subject, 
we must bear in mind the demands which it makes 
upon the brain, and the age of the children as indi- 
cating their ability to bear the strain of continued 
work of one kind. These considerations will lead us 
to place the most exhausting lessons early in the day, 
or directly after recreation, and so to distribute diffi- 
cult and easy portions of the work — those requiring 
thought, and those needing mainly mechanical dex- 
terity — that they may afford variety and relief. A 
lesson demanding the use of one set of faculties 
should be followed by one calling into requisition 
powers of a different kind ; change is rest. Younger 
children should also, as far as possible, have shorter 
lessons than older ones. Of course we must not 
expect to be able to construct a perfect time table ; 
many practical difficulties stand in the way ; the thing 
is, to make the most suitable arrangements the cir- 
cumstances will permit, bearing in mind the neces- 
sities of the child as well as of the work. Twenty 
minutes is long enough for lessons to very little 
children, half an hour for general lessons to older 
children ; though where the upper section of a large 
school is worked separately three-quarters of an hour 
may be allowed. It is in nearly all cases useful to 
have one longer lesson each school time, and in some 
instances a lesson for older scholars may occupy the 



Arrangement of Time and Subjects. 235 

time of two lessons to the younger ones. We cannot 
but consider the hour lessons — so common in some 
countries on the continent — a mistake, except for 
the oldest and most advanced of the scholars. What 
we should aim at is so to allot our time as to train 
to continued application, without going to the extent 
of producing weariness. 

Children can only assimilate knowledge at a cer- 
tain rate — that is, not only take it in but so realize its 
meaning that it becomes a useful acquisition. One 
of the commonest mistakes is to think, that by giving 
twice as much time to a thing a child will make 
twice as much progress. Every teacher, who will 
take the trouble, may soon convince himself that 
this is not so ; that do all we can, even by the most 
skilful teaching, a child will only take in so much of 
one subject in a given period, and that all the rest 
runs to waste. The mind, like the body, needs time 
to digest one portion before the next is presented to 
it. This should show us how ill advised are long 
lessons for young children, and how utterly barren 
and useless to the child himself is the great bulk of 
the matter so often crushed into the mind just before 
the examination day, and which should have been 
spread over a long previous period. It is not meant 
that the fault arises from the defective method of 
teaching (this may have been the best of its kind), 
but from the absolute inability of the child to assimi- 
late the amount in the space of time allowed. Can 
uncertainty, confusion, and error under such circum- 
stances be wondered at ? This is a subject which 
deserves much more extended observation than it 
appears to have received. 

5. In order that the teaching may proceed with 



236 Organization, 

little hindrance, the noisy lessons must be distributed 
over both the time and the space ; and arrangement 
made whereby those lessons which require continuous 
attention may be taken in the class room, or where 
there is little disturbance from other work. Simul- 
taneous reading should not be allowed in a room where 
other work is going on, unless this is of some silent 
kind, as writing. 

6. It is very necessary, also, if the maximum of 
work is to be obtained from children, to provide for 
due change of posture and place. Sitting and standing 
should, as far as it can be arranged, be made to 
alternate one with the other. To cover the whole of 
the available space with desks, and keep the children 
sitting the whole school time, is far from a wise pro- 
ceeding. Changes of place, necessitating as they do 
a certain amount of noise and loss of time, should 
extend to as little distance as can be conveniently 
contrived. 

7. Other points needing consideration are play, 
marking of registers, home lessons, review, and exami- 
nation. Proper provision for recreation should always 
be made. It is false economy to deprive children of 
their few minutes' play, not only on account of the 
opportunity it affords for changing the air of the 
room, but also from the increased vigor of the suc- 
ceeding work. 

In the 'Instructions to Inspectors/ 187 1, it is stated 
that ' any interval allowed for recreation in the time pre- 
scribed for secular instruction must not exceed — 

1. For infants under seven. — Half an hour in the course 
of a school meeting of two and a half hours and upwards, 
or a quarter of an hour in a shorter meeting. 

2. For children above seven. — A quarter of an hour in 



Arrangement of Time and Subjects. 237 

the course of a meeting of three hours, or from five to ten 
minutes in a shorter meeting/ 

Most teachers set apart a special time for the 
examination of home lessons, but much time may be 
saved by giving on certain days such home lessons as 
can be examined by, or during, one of the next day's 
lessons. Book work may sometimes be examined by 
teachers freed by the grouping of certain classes for 
Scripture teaching or other oral lessons. 

The time for marking registers should immedi- 
ately precede the two hours' secular instruction ; five 
minutes will generally be sufficient. 

Provision should by all means be made for regular 
lessons of review. Much unnecessary work is en- 
tailed by the neglect of this. One of the secrets of 
success is regularly to run over back work, so as to 
keep it fresh in the children's minds. This is espe- 
cially valuable in subjects where many facts have to 
be remembered. Time should also be allotted for 
the examination of the whole school by the master ; 
say one of the ordinary subjects each week, and a 
general examination, including the class and specific 
subjects, once a month. 

b. Method of Proceeding. 

Bearing in mind the above considerations, the 
next thing is to divide the time into separate lesson 
portions, and assign a subject to each. The number 
of working hours per week should be determined, and 
the time subtracted which is occupied in assembly, 
dismissal, religious instruction, register marking, play, 
&c. The remainder shows the hours at our disposal 
for the ordinary lessons. Having settled the length 



238 Organisation. 

Specimen of the General Arrangement of Time Tab 



Classes 


9-0 

to 

9- 10 


9- 10 

to 

9*45 


9'45 
to 

9'55 


9*55 
to 
10.0 


10 to 10*30 


10-30 to 10-55 


IO '55 

to 

11. 10 


i no to ii' 


f a 










1 












Arithmetic (10 m. mental) 




Reading 


— 


b 

r a 






















2 








6 
°3 




Reading 


Dictation 


•n 


Arithmetic 
(5 m. mental 




b 


6 

a 

0) 

m 

< 



■■8 

d 
'So 


S3 
O 

C/3 
C/) 
<L> 

<U 

s 


X 

<D 

"a 

XI 

W 


'So 

in 

u 

J-i 






3 


bJO 

.s 


"■§ 

<u 

S-. 



<L> 




3 

- 


r a 

L t> 


Arithmetic 
(5 m. mental) 


Reading 


Geography 

(M., W.) 

English 

(T., Th.) 

Obj. Lesson 

(F-) 


4 


a 
b 


Arithmetic 
(5 m. mental) 


Geography 

(M., W.) 

English 

(T., Th.) 

Obj. Lesson 
(F-) 


Copy Books 


5 


r a 


Obj. Lesson 

(M.,W.,Th.) 

Geography 

(T.) 
Spelling, &c. 

(F.) 


Reading 


Arithmetic 
(10 m. men- 
tal) 



N. B. — The class subjects selected are supposec 



Arrangement of Time and Subjects, 239 



>r a School of about 


170 (without Infants). 










1-35 to 120 


12-0 




2'0 

to 

2*lO 


2- 10 to 2-45 


2*45 to 3-20 


3-20 

to 

3-30 

d 

O 
OS 

s 

.2 
+-> 

cu 

!h 
U 

CU 


3'30 

to 

3-40 


3-40 to 4 - 1 5 


4-15 
to 

4*25 


4-25 

to 
4'3° 

co 
co 

a 

co 

s 

1 


Dictation 
M & W.) 

English 
T. &Th.) 

Review 
(F.) 


to 

CO 

s 

5 




u 

0) 

to 

"So 

cu 
& 

co 

co 

03 



J-i 

c 

cu 

£ 

cu 
co 
co 

< 


Geography 
(M.,W.) 

Specific 

Subject 

(T., Th.) 

Oral 

Lesson 

(F-) 


Copy 

Books 
(M., Th.) 
Mapping 

(W.) 
Drawing 

(T.) 
Composi- 
tion (F.) 


bJO 

"So 
g 

C/5 


Reading 
.(MO 

Dictation 

(T, F.) 

Geography 

(Th.) 

English 

(W.) 


cj 

=3 

u? 

CJ 



co 
co 
cu 

cu 

s 


K 

+J 

CU 

in 


reography 
(M., W.) 
English 
(T., Th.) 
)bj. Lesson 
(F-) 


Arithmetic 
(M.,T.,W.. 

Th.) 

Spelling & 

Review 

CEO 


Composi- 
tion (F.) 
Reading 
(M., W., 

Th.) 
Drawing 

(T.) 


Copy Bks. 
(T., W., 

Th.) 
Geography 

(F.) 

English 

(M.) 


Dictation 


Geography 

(Th.) 

Arithmetic 

(M.,T,W.) 

English 


Reading 

(M., T., 

W., Th.) 

Spelling, 

&c, 

(F-) 


Copy Bks. 

(M.,W,F.) 

Dictation 

(T.) 

Drawing 

(Th.) 


Reading 


Dictation 

(Th.) 

Arithmetic 

(M. T., 

W.) 
Spelling, 
&c. (F.) 


Reading 


Dictation 
(M, T„ 
W, F.) 
Drawing 
(Th.) 


Copy 
Books 


Dictation 


Reading 
& English 


Arithmetic 
(M., T., 

W., Th.) 
Drawing 



o be Geography and English (Code 1882). 



240 Organization. 

of the various lessons and distributed the time, we 
now decide, for each class in turn, how many lessons 
are to be given per week to each subject ; and, re- 
membering the needs of supervision, the distribution 
of noise, the difficulty of the work, &c, we proceed 
to arrange the order of the various subjects for each 
day. It will be found convenient to take the sub- 
jects which come every day at the same hour through 
the week, keeping certain suitable periods for the less 
frequent, but perhaps equally difficult, lessons. Thus 
lessons in two or more similar subjects of this sort 
may come at the same time every morning or after- 
noon, the subjects alternating. Any disposition of 
this kind simplifies the construction, and facilitates 
the remembrance of the various items. The accom- 
panying time table is given as an example of the mode 
of arrangement advocated. 

The use of 'ill-adjusted time tables' has been a 
frequent source of complaint. No time table can be 
constructed to suit all schools, even of similar size, as 
may readily be seen from the various considerations ; 
hence each teacher must acquaint himself carefully 
with the circumstances, and make out his own scheme 
of work. He should not have a time table forced 
upon him by outside authority, nor should he adopt 
one wholesale which has been tried elsewhere, no 
matter how successful. Other time tables may sug- 
gest and occasionally aid a new arrangement, but as 
originals from which copies may be taken they should 
not be used. The consideration, that knowledge of 
the conditions is necessary to successful planning, 
should also restrain a teacher, when he goes to a new 
school, from at once altering the time table, bad as it 
may seem. He should wait till he has learned more 



Arrangement of Time and Subjects. 241 

about its working ; he may then find it not so bad as 
he thought, and at least he will found his reform 
upon sure grounds and so avoid the need of tinkering. 
In addition to the time table the master should draw 
up periodically (say monthly) a short syllabus of 
study for each class, and with the portion which 
concerns him each teacher should make himself well 
acquainted. This should serve as a guide to the work 
for the period, and as the basis of the monthly exami- 
nations. A scheme of this kind prevents the teachers 
from taking up various parts of the work in an irregular 
disjointed way, and it enables the master to test with 
certainty that upon which the teacher has spent his 
strength. 

C. Government Regulations respecting Time 
Tables. 

Various regulations respecting time tables have 
been issued from time to time, more especially with 
respect to the working of Sec. 7, of the Education Act 
1 870, which says : — 

* Every elementary school which is conducted in accord- 
ance with the following regulations shall be a public element- 
ary school within the meaning of this Act, and every public 
elementary school shall be conducted in accordance with 
the following regulations, a copy of which regulations shall 
be conspicuously put up in every school, namely : — 

1. It shall not be required as a condition of any child 
being admitted into or continuing in the school, that he 
shall attend or abstain from attending any Sunday school, 
or any place of religious worship, or that he shall attend 
any religious observance or any instruction in religious sub- 
jects in the school or elsewhere, from which observance or 
instruction he may be withdrawn by his parent, or that he 
R 



242 Organization. 

shall, if withdrawn by his parent, attend the school on any- 
day exclusively set apart for religious observance by the 
religious body to which his parent belongs. 

2. The time, or times, during which any religious ob- 
servance is practised, or instruction in religious subjects is 
given at any meeting of the school, shall be either at the 
beginning or at the end, or at the beginning and the end, of 
such meeting, and shall be inserted in a time table to be 
approved by the Education Department, and to be kept per- 
manently and conspicuously affixed in every schoolroom ; 
and any scholar may be withdrawn by his parent from such 
observance or instruction without forfeiting any of the other 
benefits of the school.' 

The following points are selected and condensed 
from the several minutes and circulars respecting time 
tables, with which each teacher should make himself 
acquainted : — 

1. The time table of a public elementary school must 
be ' submitted to the inspector of the district at every visit 
he pays to the school.' 

2. The inspector may approve any time table which 
sets apart, at. least, the minimum time prescribed by the 
code for secular instruction. The secular instruction must 
be continuous and under the personal supervision of the 
principal teacher. 

3. The religious instruction may be 'given in the class 
room to separate classes or divisions of the school either at 
the beginning or end of the meeting; and the time of 
secular instruction need not be the same for the whole 
school ' if there is a class room attached to the school. 

4. Before signing the time table the inspector must 
satisfy himself — 

(a) ' That a copy of the regulations contained in sec. 7 
of the Education Act (1870) is conspicuously put up in the 
school. 



Arrangement of Time and Subjects. 243 

(b) That the time table is clearly written or printed, and 
a copy provided for every schoolroom. 

(c) That, if the school premises admit, children who are 
withdrawn from religious instruction receive instruction in 
secular subjects by themselves during the time set apart for 
religious instruction or observances. 

5. Any five parents or guardians may complain to the 
department if an approved time table is not in accordance 
with these minutes. 

6. ' Her Majesty's inspectors ought not to interfere with 
the responsibility of managers and teachers for the details 
of school work. The efficiency of their arrangements will 
be tested by the results produced at the annual examination;' 
but the inspector may ' point out any serious objection to 
a ' time table ' presented for signature. 

7. ' If the time table does not show the classes and sub- 
jects entrusted to the pupil-teachers, and the time given by 
the principal teacher, during school hours, to their technical 
instruction in the art of teaching, those particulars ought 
to be entered in the log book, and inquiry should be made' 
by the inspector at the time of his visit * as to how the ar- 
rangements so recorded are carried out in the daily work 
of the school.' 

8. No change may be made in the time for religious 
instruction * without the express sanction of the inspector. 
This sanction ought not to be given in the course of 
a school year, except upon formal application from the 
managers, nor unless strong grounds for the change are 
shown.' Any neglect ( will entail a forfeiture of grants.' 

9. ' So far as the distribution of the time devoted to 
secular instruction is concerned, the case is different, as the 
approval by the Education Department, required under 
sec. 7 (2) of the Elementary Education Act does not apply 
to such distribution of time. A time table, however, for 
all subjects taught is necessary to secure order and regu- 
larity in the daily work of a school, and when once settled 



244 Organization. 

ought to be adhered to. It otherwise ceases to be of any 
use for the information of the parents, or to be a guide to 
the inspector in forming his judgment of a teacher, or in 
examining a school.' 

10. Permanent alterations of the details of secular work 
should be specially noted in the log book ' by the corre- 
spondent,' and a copy of the corrected time table inserted. 
Occasional deviations should be noted ' by the teacher ' ; 
' if frequently resorted to without good reason, they must be 
regarded as a proof of the teacher's inefficiency, and may 
cause the grant to be reduced.' 

ii. 'So far as the hours of secular instruction are con- 
cerned,' the inspector 'will note in the log book, for the 
information of the managers, every case in which he finds 
a school not being taught according to the ordinary time 
table, unless there is a record in the said log book of the 
reason why the order of instruction set forth in the time 
table has not been observed.' 



Apparatus and Books. 245 



CHAPTER VI. 

APPARATUS AND BOOKS. 

The term apparatus includes all the various materials 
made use of by teacher or scholars, in order that the 
work, both of teaching and of learning, may receive 
all the help which the best tools and labor-saving 
appliances can give. By his words the teacher appeals 
to the ear, by the use of apparatus to sight ; and it 
has been previously remarked how much this double 
appeal conduces to clearness of impression and re- 
tention by the memory. Apparatus thus properly 
covers not only the ordinary teaching instruments 
but books. The latter, however, are of sufficient im- 
portance to be treated by themselves. Skilfully used, 
good apparatus facilitates instruction, reduces the 
expenditure of energy, and largely increases the 
success with which the work is performed. 

We frequently hear school requisites spoken of as 
though goodness and costliness were synonymous ; 
there is no necessary connection between them. The 
money spent in making the things showy is often 
spared from more needed qualities. Good apparatus 
is very necessary in schools, and to be of most use 
should be plain, strong, and exactly adapted to serve 
its purpose ; beyond a certain point ornament means 
in most cases increased liability to injury. The 



246 Organization. 

tendency to make teaching appliances needlessly 
expensive has grown considerably of late years. 
Nevertheless, while it should be recognized that very 
ornamental apparatus is an extravagance, it should 
equally be remembered that very cheap things are 
rarely, if ever, economical. They are almost always 
flimsily constructed, of the very poorest materials, 
and display the worst workmanship, an attempt being 
made to cover the defects by mere outside attractive- 
ness. 

Every teacher must feel that there is often much 
waste and excessive wear and tear, from the defective 
care or the rough usage to which the apparatus is 
subjected : pens, paper, or slates, not properly col- 
lected ; black-boards cracked by being tumbled about ; 
maps with the rollers half torn off ; reading cards 
with the corners all doubled up ; and so on. Nor is 
the wastefulness the only evil ; recklessness in using 
the property of others is a bad habit to encourage in 
children. Monitors or junior teachers should always 
be appointed to look after the ordinary appliances. 
They should also be periodically inspected by the 
master, and any damage seen to. A stitch in time 
will often save nine here. In teaching, apparatus 
should be carefully kept to its proper place ; it is a 
means only, and must be used as such. Elaborate 
appliances are very apt to attract the attention of a 
child to their looks rather than their use, and to cover 
out of sight the points intended to be illustrated. 

a. Kinds of Apparatus. 

1. Black-boards. — These are of four principal 
kinds : (1) boards fixed to walls ; (2) boards for use 



Apparatus and Books. 247 

with easels ; (3) swing boards ; (4) sliding boards. 
Boards fixed to walls are useful when they can be con- 
veniently placed with regard to the classes, and when 
a large writing space is required. In some cases 
prepared cloth, or smooth and hard plaster properly 
prepared, is in use. The ordinary boards may either 
be plain or framed. The former should be made of 
thoroughly well seasoned pine, and tongued with iron 
strips; the latter may be much lighter, should be 
framed with birch, and are suitable for infant schools 
or younger classes. Easels are of various forms ; 
some with added supports for maps, &c. The square- 
topped reversible easel is perhaps the most useful, 
though lighter forms are also of service, especially 
with little children. Pitch pine has lately come into 
fashion for easels ; but this splits more readily, and 
is much more likely to give way, especially at the 
hinges, than good American birch. Both woods need 
to be well seasoned to prevent warping. There 
should be a pointer supported by two rings at the 
side of the easel whenever the latter contains a map 
support, and always a small attached box for chalk. 
Swing boards, or large slates, are valuable where there 
is not much necessity to move them to any distance. 
Slates afford a good surface to write upon, and clean 
more readily, but are more liable to break, than 
boards. Means should be provided for fixing the 
board at any required slope. Occasionally a small 
swing board is made so that the support can be raised 
or lowered as needed, and the board be turned into a 
horizontal position. Placed in this way it may be 
used as a small table for the exhibition of specimens, 
experiments, &c. Sliding boards are generally larger 
than the ordinary boards. They are exceedingly 



248 Organization. 

convenient to use when well balanced, but they are 
expensive, occupy a good deal of space, and should 
be kept pretty much to one place. The preparation 
for coating the boards should not give a smooth 
greasy surface like paint, nor a rough gritty surface 
like emery cloth. Liquid slating is much in favor in 
some parts of America and elsewhere, and is occa- 
sionally used in England. It is sometimes useful for 
walls, but generally gives too rough a surface for 
pleasant working, and increases the amount of dust. 
The ordinary square chalk is better than the tapered 
crayons prepared for black-boards ; the latter have a 
kind of greasy touch in writing and are more difficult 
to erase. There should be a black-board for every class 
in the school: one should be ruled for music lessons, 
and another with lines for writing, as in Mulhaiiser's 
system. 

2. Maps, Diagrams, and Pictures. — These serve a 
double purpose : they act as valuable means of illus- 
tration in teaching, and also help to give the room a 
cheerful and pleasant aspect by ornamenting the walls* 
There should be a good supply of maps ; including a 
plan of the parish, and a map of the county. Most 
of the maps prepared for school use contain far too 
many names, and the excess of detail destroys the 
necessary boldness. 1 They frequently approach what 
a good library map should be, and are thus quite un- 
suitable for class teaching. The coloring is in many 
cases crude and unpleasant, and far too positive in 
tone. Maps without names are very useful for pur- 
poses of oral examination. Relief maps are much used 
in Germany, and, if well constructed, are valuable in 

1 The maps recently published by the National Society are free 
from this defect, and are in many respects excellent. 



Apparatus and Books. 249 

special lessons ; but they are expensive, and need 
great care to preserve them from injury. Maps out- 
lined in white on a slated surface which will take chalk 
are sometimes employed, after the Swedish plan, 
instead of sketching on black-board. 

The diagrams in common use contain far too many 
things on one sheet, and hence distract the attention. 
They are sometimes, also, too small to be of much use. 
A good set of plain moderately colored physiological 
diagrams should be found in every large school. 
Some drawings of common machines will be useful for 
special lessons ; as well as a few good-sized and boldly 
drawn botanical diagrams. There should be a modu- 
latorf or singing. In girls' schools, needlework demon- 
stration sheets will be found advantageous for use 
with beginners : or better still, perhaps, the demon- 
stration frame as used in Germany, by which the mode 
of forming almost any stitch may be illustrated. 

Pictures are very serviceable for teaching pur- 
poses, if suitable and well drawn. Many of those in 
use are badly outlined, false in details, and coarse 
and incorrect in coloring. These should be avoided* 
A plentiful selection should be provided of pictures 
of animals and plants, especially such as yield valu- 
able products ; as well as illustrations of Scripture 
narrative, manners and customs, English history,, 
foreign scenes, races of men, natural phenomena, &c. 

3. Models, Specimens, &c. — A good globe is neces- 
sary in school. It should be well mounted, but 
not so large as to prevent its being easily carried from 
place to place. An instrument for showing the rela- 
tionship of the earth, sun, and moon is very useful,, 
but need not be anything like so elaborate in arrange- 
ment as many of those sold. A tray with modelling 



250 Organization. 

clay is made a great help to the teaching of geography 
in some schools. 

Models of simple machines may often readily be 
made by the teacher as required, and should be pre- 
served for future employment. A few, such as small 
models showing the essential parts of the steam-en- 
gine, the force-pump, &c, may be purchased ; as well 
as, in large schools, a set of models illustrating the 
mechanical powers. There should also be provided a 
set of geometrical models and a terra cotta vase or two 
for drawing, a magnet, a mariner's compass, a large 
compass card, a clock face with movable hands, a 
prism, and a small microscope. 

Every school should have its cabinet of specimens 
for object lessons : this need not be costly, and should 
contain examples of raw and manufactured materials, 
both animal and vegetable, common minerals, metals, 
&c. The objects may be mostly collected by the 
teacher and the children, with a few purchases here 
and there. The collections sold often contain unsuit- 
able things which are never used, and many of the 
specimens are far too small to answer their purpose 
well. 

4. Form, Color, and Kindergarten apparatus. — In 
infant schools there will be needed, in addition to 
materials mentioned elsewhere, a box containing 
wooden models of various forms, a box of small 
wooden bricks, specimen cards and materials of dif- 
ferent colors with a color diagram ; and, if the school 
makes use of the Kindergarten exercises, a box of 
gifts and suitable materials for the various employ- 
ments, as papers cut for folding, strips for mat plait- 
ing, sticks for stick laying, &c. The 'gifts' aveijirst, 
six woollen balls of different colors, three primary and 



Apparatus a?id Books. 251 

three secondary colors ; seco?id> a sphere, cube, and 
cylinder, of hard wood ; third, a large cube divisible 
into eight small ones for constructive exercises ; while 
the fourth to the eighth gifts consist of cubes variously 
divided into bars, smaller cubes, &c, and triangular 
and quadrangular wood tablets. The so-called gifts 
beyond these are really further exercises added by 
Froebel's followers. 

5. Apparatus for teaching Arithmetic. — In addition 
to the black-board much help may be obtained from 
the following : ' number pictures,' a ball frame placed 
on a stand with one-half covered, a box of 144 small 
cubes for notation and tables, wall sheets of tables, 
cards of examples, models or diagrams of weights and 
measures, and a dissected cube for teaching cube root. 
In some schools a modified form of ball frame is used, 
besides the ordinary one, for teaching numeration and 
exercises in addition and subtraction. In this case 
there are thirty-six balls on each horizontal wire di- 
vided into nines by perpendicular bands ; each column 
of nines being colored differently, and the four groups 
standing for units, tens, hundreds, and thousands. 

6. For Reading should be provided a large alphabet 
card ; a letter box and frame, or better still, a word- 
maker^ after some of the French models ; and read- 
ins: cards with suitable stands. 



b. Books. 

Probably no class of books has developed at so 
rapid a rate of late years as that intended for school 
use. There is no lack of kinds to choose from, suited 
to almost all tastes and views as to how the work 

1 See Meiklejohn's Problem of Teaching to Read. 



252 Organization. 

should be performed. Many of the books are also 
very attractive, but when we come to look somewhat 
deeper into their qualities they are not unfrequently 
disappointing. 

The most important group is that of the reading 
books, embracing as it does now, not only ordinary 
readers intended as the means of teaching to read and 
a source of general information, but books devoted to 
class subjects intended to be taught through reading 
lessons. 

The general readers should be constructed for the 
special purposes and needs of reading, and should not 
be miscellaneous collections of reading-lessons, arith- 
metic, drawing, grammar, home lessons, and so on. 
They should contain plenty of matter, and be well 
graduated — especially in the early stages; should 
be varied both in contents and style, so as to secure 
interest, and provide fitting exercise for all the facul- 
ties; and should treat of subjects suitable to the age 
of children, be carefully illustrated, clearly printed, 
and strongly bound. To confine a set of books pre- 
pared for the teaching of reading to one subject, no 
matter how valuable, would be a great mistake. They 
are not text-books in the ordinary sense, and should 
not be treated as though they were. They form in 
most cases a child's first introduction to literature, 
and the wider the view which can be conveniently 
given, after other requirements are satisfied, the 
better. The extracts may be usefully taken from 
such books, as are fairly accessible and may be wisely 
read through by children. The lessons should lead 
the child to take to reading as a recreation and 
amusement first, and later on as a means of acquiring 
knowledge. 



Apparahis and Books. 253 

The illustrations are often quite unsuitable. They 
need not be by any means elaborate, but they should 
be good of their kind. They should aid in the reali- 
zation of the story narrated, or the scene described, 
and exactly embody its ideas ; unless they do this they 
are worse than useless, so far as their true purpose is 
concerned. They should be bold in design, well 
drawn, and suggestive rather than full. 

The printing should be as clear as possible and 
not overcrowded, and the type should be sufficiently 
large to allow the child to read it easily at some little 
distance. The increasing short-sight among children 
is said to be partly due to badly-printed books. 

General strength of binding is an important quali- 
ty, not only on account of the increased durability and 
consequent less expense, but also from its effect upon 
the child's habits. It can scarcely be expected that 
he will take much trouble in preserving a book, which 
despite his efforts comes rapidly to pieces, and then 
seems no longer worthy of care. A dog-eared, dirty 
volume, with broken back and loose leaves, is a stand- 
ing bad influence on a child, decreasing his respect 
for books, and rendering him careless in his treat- 
ment of them. Anything which will tend to prevent 
this is worth consideration. 

We may conveniently group the special qualities 
of reading-books as follows : — 

(a.) The earliest, or conceptive stage. — The books 
for this stage will need to be specially written, so as to 
secure the proper introduction of new words, and the 
repetition of those previously used. The ideas must 
be familiar, and such as are likely to interest little 
children. They must be expressed in a pleasant, sim- 
ple, direct way, by short sentences, and be arranged 



254 Organization. 

in lessons which can each be easily mastered in a 
brief period. A personal element should run through 
all the lessons, and a few pretty little poems, on such 
topics as can be readily appreciated, should be scat- 
tered here and there. In all cases the lessons should 
be as natural as possible, and a little beyond the 
child's mode of expression. Simplicity must not be 
confounded with silliness or babyishness. 

(b.) The middle, or interest stage. — The reading- 
books of the second stage introduce the child to a 
much wider range of ideas ; he has to make use of 
his own experiences to enable him to understand 
those of others. Many suitable extracts may now be 
found, but some of the lessons will yet need to be 
specially prepared, and lucidity both of thought and 
expression are still matters of great importance. 
Anecdotes, short moral tales, fables, deeds of heroism, 
adventures, descriptions of manners and customs, and 
of interesting objects will all be found useful. The 
great thing here is to interest the child in reading. 
The personal element may be less frequently intro- 
duced, but plenty of food must be provided at this 
stage for the imagination. There is frequently a good 
deal of affectation in the books of this stage, especially 
in the stories. Many of the latter either give warped 
ideas of greatness in human conduct, or encourage a 
sickly sentimentality opposed to all healthy moral feel- 
ing ; and there is not unfrequently an artificial gloss, a 
goody-goody tone, and an unreality in the moral 
consequences and punishments of vice, which a child 
readily detects as being unlike actual life, and views 
with suspicion and distaste. The poetry is frequently 
unsuitable, being either too childish or too difficult. 
It should be mostly of the ballad or descriptive type. 



Apparatus and Books. 255 

Such poets as Wordsworth, Scott, Cowper, Gold- 
smith, Thomson, and many others, will supply suita- 
ble extracts. 

(c.) Upper, or information stage. — The lessons may 
here be considerably longer, especially in the advanced 
books. The work is more intellectual, and excellence 
and variety of style are much more important. We 
have to train to continuous reading, and cannot do 
this by a collection of short scraps or mere dry 
epitomes. Stories will be here only occasionally in- 
troduced, and much more attention given to matters 
of fact, but emotional elements must not be absent. 
Descriptions of scenery, short biographies, historical 
incidents, accounts of great discoveries, brief essays 
on general subjects, explanations of natural phenom- 
ena, and suitable lessons in elementary science will 
form the bulk of the subject-matter. The poetry 
should be of an increasingly higher type, but not too 
difficult. Many of the selections, both of prose and 
poetry, found in the books in common use, are of too 
difficult and classical a kind for children to grasp their 
meaning, or feel proper interest in them. 

The special readers for teaching such subjects as 
geography, history, natural history, botany, &c, par- 
take much more of the nature of simple text-books, 
and will be in many respects unlike the general 
readers. The topics to be treated should be selected 
with great care, and should, as far as possible, be 
connected. Graduation of language must not be 
forgotten, but graduation of subject-matter is here of 
still more importance. The lessons must not be too 
long, should be treated in a simple, engaging way, be 
well illustrated, and present few difficulties in words 
or expression. The latter should be left for the most 



256 Organization. 

part to the ordinary reading books. The object here 
is to train the child to master the facts by reading, 
and anything which would unduly break the conti- 
nuity of thought, or distract attention from the mat- 
ter, should be avoided. 

The remaining books necessary for school use com- 
prise principally arithmetic books, grammars, atlases, 
copy books, manuals of the specific subjects, and a 
few good reference books for the use of the teachers. 
Many good standard arithmetics are now published, 
providing a large number of well-graduated examples. 
The grammars for the use of children are not so satis- 
factory, but several good examples exist. They should 
give exact definitions and a very clear account of the 
elements, should not be burdened with a large num- 
ber of exceptional cases, and should have a numerous 
selection of suitable exercises. Atlases should be 
clearly drawn, and should contain, as nearly as may 
be, just the information needed in studying the 
geographical text-books. Many are confusingly and 
uselessly full of names. Many varieties of copy books 
are in use; some with single copies, some with more \- 
some making large use of the tracing method, some 
scarcely any. In one case, too, a sliding head-line is 
used. The teacher will, of course, be guided largely 
in his selection by the style of writing he approves, 
but careful examination should be made before adopt- 
ing any set. Many contain the letters wrongly 
formed, in some the slope is far too great, some vary 
greatly in style from book to book, and others are 
objectionable from the great variety of ways in which 
the capitals are made. The manuals for the specific 
subjects are often well drawn up, but run too much on 
the lines of the larger treatises, and too little in ac- 



Apparatus and Books. 257 

cordance with the order most teachers would adopt in 
instruction. Every school should have its small stock 
of reference books for the use of teachers, independent 
of the school library. These should be one or two 
carefully selected treatises on each of the subjects 
taught in school, a good dictionary, and, if possible, a 
cheap but trustworthy encyclopaedia, such as that 
published by Messrs. Chambers, which is excellent. 



258 Organization. 



CHAPTER VII. 

REGISTRATION. 

The principal objects of registration are, to mark the 
growth, changes, and financial state of the school, its 
past circumstances and present prosperity, and to 
chronicle any events of importance in its history ; to 
supply the facts concerning the children or the school 
required by the Education Department, as a guarantee 
that certain conditions of grant are fulfilled ; to enable 
the teacher to obtain with promptitude and certainty 
particulars as to the attendance, payments, and stage 
of progress of each child, for his own information, that 
of the managers or parents, or for purposes connected 
with the various Acts regulating the labor of children. 
The Appendix on Registration to ' Instructions to 
Inspectors ' (August 1882) says : — 

' 1. The Code requires that before any grant is 
made to a school the Education Department must be 
satisfied that suitable registers are provided, accurate- 
ly kept, and periodically verified by the managers 
(Articles 8 and g6c), and again under Article 1 1 5 the 
grant may be reduced upon the inspector's report for 
faults of registration. 

' 2. In every school there should be (1) a register 
of admission, progress, and withdrawal ; (2) registers 
of daily attendance for all scholars ; (3) a book of 



Registration. 259 

summaries. These registers must (Article 8) be pro- 
vided by the managers out of the funds of the school, 
so as to be the property of the school, and not in any 
sense of the teacher.' 

There must also be a ' Cash-book of School Ac- 
counts/ kept by the managers ; a * Diary or Log- 
book ' ; and ' a Portfolio to contain official letters, 
which should be numbered (1, 2, 3, &c.) in the order 
of their receipt.' 

In addition to the above the following will be 
found advisable : — 

(1) An examination register; (2) a register of home- 
lessons and of general work. In certain cases a ' late book ' 
and a ' stock book ' will also be found useful. Some School 
Boards require a register to be kept of all administrations 
of corporal punishment, with reasons, &c. ; and in the 
* Instructions to Inspectors ' it is said that when such 
punishment is administered, ' an entry of the fact should, 
in their lordships' opinion, be made in the log book.' 

In every system of school registration there must 
of necessity be two departments — the ' individual' 
and the ' collective.' The individual department 
should note the necessary facts concerning each 
particular child, such as date of admission, resi- 
dence, promotion, withdrawal, attendance, fees, suc- 
cesses at periodical examinations, &c. The collective 
department regards children only in groups, and 
consists of totals, averages, general conclusions, &c, 
respecting a class, section, or the whole school. Be- 
sides matters of fees and attendance, the collective 
department will register percentages of passes at the 
periodical examinations, work done by certain classes 
within particular periods, and any special occurrences 
affecting a group, whether large or small. 



260 Organization. 

A. The Admission Register. 

This consists of two parts — the ' index ' and the 
'entries.' The following are the regulations respect- 
ing it 1 : — 

i. 'The admission register should be kept exclu- 
sively by the head-teacher, and made up at least once 
a week. Successive numbers should be allotted to 
the children on their admission, so that each child 
may have its own number, which it should retain 
throughout its school career. A child who returns to 
school after an absence of any duration would resume 
its original admission number. The name need not 
be re-entered in the Admission Book if the child is 
re-admitted in the course of one school year. 

' No child's name should be removed from the 
register on account of absence for any period less 
than six weeks (except in case of death) unless the 
managers have ascertained, or the school attendance 
officer reports, that the child has left the school or 
neighborhood. 

3. 'This register should show distinctly for each 
child in the school (a) its number on the register ; (b) 
the date of its admission or re-admission, day, month, 
and year : (c) name in full, christian and surname ; 

(d) the name and address of its parent or guardian ; 

(e) whether exemption from religious instruction is 
claimed; (/) 2 the exact date of the child's birth, day, 
month, and year ; (g) 2 the last school (if any) which 
it attended before entering this school ; (h) 2 the 

1 For this and succeeding extracts see Appendix, quoted above. 

2 ' Special care must be taken to obtain exact information on these 
points from the parents, former teachers, and registrar of births, if 
necessary.' 



Registration. 26 1 

highest standard in which it was there presented, (i) 
the successive standards in which presented in this 
school ; (k) the date of leaving. 

4. 'Where several children of the same name 
attend, they may be distinguished thus : — " John 
Jones (a)," "John Jones (b)" &c.' 

The surname should be entered first, as it facili- 
tates the rinding of a name by running the eye down 
the letters. The names of half-time scholars should 
be distinguished in some way, as writing (H. T.) after 
each. A dark or red line should divide the entries of 
one school year from those of another. The index 
should be carefully filled up as the names are entered 
in the register. Admission registers * must never be 
destroyed.' 

b. The Class or Attendance Registers. 

An attendance register should be provided for 
every class. The upper portion is usually taken up 
with the individual particulars and totals ; the lower 
part being reserved for the collective items which 
supply the information required for the 'summary.' 
The following are the Department requirements. 

1. ' The attendance registers must be marked every 
time that the school meets, however small the number 
of children present, and all attendances so marked 
must be taken into account. They should show the 
daily and weekly attendances of every scholar, begin- 
ning with the first day of the school year (Article 22), 
and continuing to the end of the same. 

2. 'Adequate time for marking these registers 
should be provided for in the time tables — from five 
to ten minutes or more — according to the number of 
scholars. 



262 Organization. 

3. 'In mixed schools the boys should be entered 
in the upper part of a page, the girls in the lower, 
leaving a space between them. 

4. ' On the outside of the cover of each register 
should be legibly written the name of the school, and 
the year, also the department (boys', girls', mixed, or 
infants', as the case may be), and the class or classes 
to which it belongs. All registers should be paged. 

5. ' There should be columns for each child's 
admission number, for its name in full, and its age 
last birthday, and columns for all the weeks in the 
year, which should always be dated at their head with 
the day and the month. One also for the morning 
attendances and another for the afternoon attendances 
of every day, with a place at their foot for adding 
them up. A column for school pence received in 
each week is not unfrequently added to the attend- 
ance columns, but as this is apt to cause confusion in 
the additions, both of the pence and attendances, the 
pence columns had better be kept separate, unless 
entries be made in them in red ink. There should be 
a column for the entry, at the close of each week, of 
the total attendances made by each child during that 
week, and at the end of the register columns, to sum 
up the total attendances of each child during the 
year. The Code requires a separate register for half- 
timers. The register for each class may be marked 
by the pupil-teacher (if he have completed his second 
year) having charge of the class ; but the head teacher 
will be held responsible for its being regularly and 
properly kept. 

6. ' In marking the attendance registers the fol- 
lowing rules should be observed : — (1) The registers 
must be marked, and excepting marks cancelled under 



Registration. 263 

(10) infra, be finally closed at least two hours before 
the termination of the time given to the secular in- 
struction at each meeting of the school, and at the 
time specified on the approved time-table ; (2) after 
the registers are closed no child may be marked ; (3) 
children must be marked at each meeting of the 
school ; (4) in ink, never in pencil inked over after- 
wards ; (5) presence must be marked with a long 
stroke, thus /> or \ ; (6) absence must be marked 
with an "a"; (7) there must be no dots; (8) no 
erasures, if any error has been made it must be cor- 
rected by a footnote; (9) no blanks; (10) if a child 
leaves before the two hours of secular instruction 
expire, its mark for presence should be cancelled by 
another stroke across it, thus x> and the total attend- 
ances for that meeting corrected by placing under 
them — 1, — 2, as the case may be; (11) registers 
must be original and not copied from slates, papers, 
&c., on pretence of keeping them clean, or any other 
plea; (12) the number of attendances made by the 
class should be entered at the foot of the column 
every morning and afternoon at the time of closing 
the registers; (13) the number of attendances made 
by each child during the week must be entered ; (14) 
when a half or whole holiday occurs, or on the occa- 
sion of days set apart for special inspection, under 
section 76 of the Education Act (when the meetings 
and attendances are not to be registered for the pur- 
pose of annual grants), a line should be drawn down 
the whole length of the column or columns; (15) for 
longer periods "holiday" should be written across 
the columns. 

7. ' At the foot of the attendance columns for each 
week, or in some place specially provided for them in 



264 Organization. 

the registers, should be entered : (a) the number of 
times the school was open, morning and afternoon ; 
(b) the total number of attendances made by all the 
children on this register during the week. 

8. 'At the foot of each pence column the total 
amount of pence received during the week.' 

Suggestions. — Enter surnames first. Fill in dates 
of admission with boys' names in first quarter, and 
transfer them to last quarter with any additions when 
required. The use of various marks for such things 
as sickness, home circumstances, weather, &c, except 
where the cause of absence is of some standing, can- 
not be carried out conveniently, and is best avoided, 
as we do not generally know why a child is absent 
until afterwards. It will facilitate counting up, if the 
strokes for morning and afternoon attendance are 
made to slope in opposite directions. The total of 
attendances made by the class during the week, found 
by adding together the morning and afternoon totals, 
should always be tested by comparing the result with 
the total obtained in one of the following ways : either 
by counting all the absences in the week's attendance 
columns, and subtracting them from the total num- 
ber of attendances possible, or by adding the weekly 
totals of attendances made by each child which 
appear in a column by themselves. This system of 
checking one set of totals by another should be 
strongly insisted upon by every master. It is a good 
plan to have a small blackboard, say a foot or eighteen 
inches square, or a large slate upon which to enter 
total attendance morning and afternoon. A respon- 
sible teacher may, in a very few minutes, count the 
children and see that the number corresponds to 
the total of attendances marked in the register. 



Registration. 265, 

This daily summary forms a check to errors in reg- 
ister marking, the master is able to see at a glance 
if the attendance is lower than usual, and inquire the 
cause and send after absentees, while school managers 
coming into the school can see the attendance for 
themselves. 

* Attendance registers, when filled, should be put 
away and preserved for at least ten years.' 

Class registers vary considerably in arrangement 
of the particulars. One of the greatest improvements 
introduced of late years is the separation of the 
column for fees, and those for the weekly totals of 
attendances for each child, from the daily attendance 
columns, and the placing of the first almost directly 
after the names, and of the second at the end of the 
attendances. There are three ways of separating the 
morning and afternoon attendances ; by dividing the 
small squares intended for each child's daily attend- 
ance horizontally, perpendicularly, or diagonally. 
Where the attendance marks lie just over each other 
space is saved, but greater care and trouble are 
needed in counting up the afternoon attendances 
than when they occupy a separate column. The first 
plan has the merit of compactness, the second of 
clearness, the third is very little used. 

Attendance. ' An " attendance " means attendance 
at secular instruction : — 

{a) During one hour and a half, in the case of a 
day scholar in a school or class for infants ; 

(b) During two hours, in the case of a day scholar 
in a school or class for older children. * 

1 ' For boys, military drill under a competent instructor for not 
more than two hours in any week, or forty hours in any school year, 
and for girls lessons in practical cookery, where the inspector reports 



266 Organization. 

(c) During one hour in the case of an evening 
scholar.' 

4 No attendance is, as a rule, recognized in a day- 
school for any scholar under three years old ; or in 
an evening school for any scholar under fourteen or 
over twenty-one, but children under fourteen who are 
exempt from the legal obligation to attend school are 
recognized as scholars in an evening school.' (Code 
1882, Arts. 12 and 13.) 

c. The Summary, &c. 

The following are the points laid down respecting 
the summary in the 'Instructions to Inspectors.' 

1. The Summary should contain {a) the weekly 
entries of the attendance of each class transferred 
from the class registers every week into appropriate 
pages, and the average attendance for each week ; (b) 
at the completion of the year the annual averages for 
the whole school should be struck and entered of 
boys and girls separately; (1) under 3, (2) between 3 
and 7, (3) above 7, and (4) above 13, and the highest 
weekly average noted; (c) the summary should be 
clear, and should at once show the results asked for 
in the Managers' Return (Form IX.). 

2. ' In this book the duplicate examination sched- 
ules, and copies of the returns in Form IX., should 

that special and appropriate provision is made for teaching it, for no< 
more than forty hours in any school year, are reckoned as instruction 
for the purposes of this article.' Not more than one hour at a time 
should be devoted to drill ; and the War Office ' Memorandum ' shows 
that the employment of a Government instructor is contemplated, at 
least in the first instance, though schoolmasters who have ' passed a 
sergeant's examination before an adjutant of volunteers ' may continue 
the work. 



Registration. 267 

be preserved, together with a list of scholars qualified 
to be presented, but not presented, with the reasons 
for their not being presented, and likewise of scholars 
presented a second time in the same standard, with 
the reasons for their being so presented/ 

Averages. — If we have a number of unequal quan- 
tities a certain mean may be found such that the sum 
of all the excesses exactly equals the sum of the 
deficiencies — this mean is called the average. The 
average may be found by dividing the sum of the 
several quantities by their number. 

By average attendance is meant the average 
number of children present each school time during a 
given period. The average attendance is sometimes 
confused with average number of attendances. In the 
first case we have to distribute so many attendances 
uniformly over so many times, so as to arrive at a 
number of children : in the second we distribute the 
attendances among so many children, so as to arrive 
at a certain number of times. 

* The average number in attendance for any period 
is found by adding together the attendances of all the 
scholars for that period, and dividing the sum by the 
number of times the school has met within the same 
period ; the quotient is the average number in at- 
tendance.' 

The average for the quarter or the year must not 
be obtained by finding the average of the weekly 
averages — this only gives an approximate result. 
' For the purpose of calculating the average attend- 
ance, but for no other purpose, each "attendance" 
of a half-time scholar shall be counted as one attend- 
ance and a half.' (Code 1882.) 



268 Organization. 

Returns sometimes required, (i) Number present at all. 
By this is meant the total number of children who have 
made any attendance, even one half day, during the period 
for which the return is required. 

(2) Average number of attendances made by each child 
present at all. Find the total number of attendances made 
by all the children during the given period, and divide by 
the number present at all. It must be remembered, as 
stated above, that this is quite different from 'average 
attendance.' 

(3) Number on the register. This is obtained by count- 
ing every child's name not taken off the register at the date 
of the return. Supplementary rule No. 12 says : 'No child's 
name should be kept on the admission register after a fort- 
night's continuous absence without inquiry from the parents 
whether the child has been withdrawn. The names of 
children withdrawn (whether they are so the answer of their 
parents will decide) should be cancelled at once in the 
registers, and not included in the returns of age and stay at 
school; but the attendances (if any) opposite to such names 
in the class registers must be counted ' for the calculation 
of the average attendance, ' and the whole number of such 
names must be counted for the return, " left in past year." ' 

(4) The number left in past year may also be obtained 
as follows : Find the total number on the class registers at 
the beginning of the year ; add to this the number admitted 
during the year from the admission book, and subtract from 
the number thus found the number on the books at the 
close of the school year. One method may be made to 
check the other. 

The summary should be made up week by week 
from the class registers, which if marked and kept by 
the other teacher should then be carefully examined 
by the master. The highest weekly average may be 
marked at the end of the year by darkening the lines 
enclosing the number. Printed summaries are often 



Registration. 269 

much too complicated in arrangement ; the simpler 
they are in form, and the more directly the results 
required can be obtained, the better. ' Summaries 
should never be destroyed.' 

'The Managers' Return (Form IX.) will contain a cer- 
tificate that the registers have been checked at irregular in- 
tervals, and at least once in every quarter, by the managers. 
To check the registers the managers, or some one deputed 
by them, should visit the school, without previous notice, 
after the registers ought to be closed, and ascertain that the 
number of attendances marked tallies exactly with the 
number of children then present. An entry should also be 
made in the log book and in the registers at the time of 
checking them ; they should also be signed at the same 
time by the teachers responsible for them. 

' The managers' return should show, by separate entries \ 
the number of admissions and re-admissions in the course of 
the first and second halves of the school year respectively? 

' My Lords do not at present/ says the Instruc- 
tions, ' insist upon uniform registers as a condition of 
annual grants, but they trust that by the co-operation 
of the managers of schools such an extent of uniform- 
ity may be gradually introduced as to make the adop- 
tion hereafter of a uniform system of registers a- 
matter of little difficulty.' 

d. The Log Book. 

The school life often does not vary much from 
day to day, and when a daily record was required, the 
entries were not only troublesome, but necessarily in 
many cases of the most useless and frivolous descrip- 
tion. This was to use the book as a diary properly 
so called. A log book, however, in which occasional 
entries are made, when anything worthy of note 



270 Organization. 

occurs, is a very different thing, and should be care- 
fully kept. When it is so, it is a most valuable and 
useful record. It is really a reference book of past 
events and circumstances. 

The Code of 1882 says (Art. 8d), 'The log book 
must be stoutly bound and contain not less than 
300 ruled pages. It must be kept by the principal 
teacher, who is required to enter in it from time to 
time such events as the introduction of new books, 
apparatus, or courses of introduction, any plan of 
lessons approved by the inspector, the visits of man- 
agers, absence, illness, or failure of duty on the part 
of any of the school staff, or any special circum- 
stances affecting the school, that may, for the sake 
of future reference or for any other reason, deserve 
to be recorded. 

' No reflections or opinions of a general character 
are to be entered in the log book.' 



The Use of the Emotions in Education . 



PART III. 
DISCIPLINE AND MORAL TRAINING. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE USE OF THE EMOTIONS IN EDUCATION AND 
THEIR CULTIVATION. 

We have seen that, while we provide for the culture 
of the intellectual side of the mind, we must not lose 
sight of the moral and emotional elements of the 
child's nature ; and though the formation of the 
character is not so exclusively the work of the teacher 
as the training of the intellectual powers, it none the 
less needs his particular and constant care ; not only 
from the fact that upon the education given to the 
moral nature and the emotions depends to a large 
extent the child's future happiness, but because they 
influence, in a very large and important degree, the 
success even of the more distinctly intellectual side 
of the work. 

By emotion we mean the greater or less degree of 
excitement or agitation which accompanies particular 
ideas or sense impressions in certain cases, and takes 
the form of pleasure, or pain, or a mental stimulation 
which cannot properly be said to be either pleasurable 



272 Discipline and Moral Training. 

or painiul. The mental association is usually con- 
sidered essential, and hence states of body which act 
directly in producing painful or pleasurable feelings 
are excluded from the domain of the emotions proper, 
though both may be combined, as in the emotion 
of grief and the accompanying choking sensation. 
Bodily affections again may give rise to an associated 
intellectual impression, and pass into true emotions. 
When an emotion becomes so intensified in its action 
as to exceed due limits, it is usually denominated a 
passion; the distinction therefore between the one 
and the other is simply one of degree. The more 
common and distinctly marked phases of emotion 
bear special names, as affection, fear, joy, grief, 
anger, shame, remorse, surprise, wonder, and so on ; 
but the number of varieties due to subtle modifica- 
tions, both of kind and degree, is practically un- 
limited. In all cases there exists a tendency to 
affect the body, varying in force with the strength 
of the mental excitement, and with the age, state of 
health, and other conditions of the individual. Par- 
ticular emotions exert to some extent a selective 
action in the mode of diffusion of the bodily stimu- 
lus, giving rise to outward expression, whereby their 
presence is recognized, and in some cases to other 
physical effects. 

Action, or increased functional activity, uses up 
the nervous energy, and thus tends to tranquillize 
the agitation; as in the shout of joy, and the relief of 
tears. The muscles of the face are very commonly 
influenced in this way, and are often associated with 
the contraction of other muscles giving rise to in- 
voluntary actions. Tremor is another frequent ac- 
companiment, and in case of strong emotion, the heart, 



The Use of the Emotions in Education. 273 

the breathing, the secretions, and the skin may also 
be affected. In fact ' states of pleasure are usually 
accompanied with an increase in some or all of the 
vital functions, and states of pain with a depression 
or weakening of vital functions.' 

Emotion and intelligence run side by side, and 
the origin of the former, as of the latter, lies far back 
in the earliest perceptional stages of the child's 
growth. The simpler phases of emotion, arising 
from some form of sympathy, act almost as soon as 
the child comes to recognize exterior objects as 
having any relation to himself. He soon learns to 
distinguish between the smile of pleasure and the 
frown of reproof on the faces of those around him, 
and his own feelings are influenced accordingly. 
Some actions and ideas are thus early associated 
with pleasure, others with pain, while others again 
remain indifferent. Pleasure in the contemplation 
of objects leads to desire ; pain, on the other hand, 
tends to aversion. When the pleasurable emotion 
gives rise to desire of sufficient strength to serve as 
an incitement to voluntary action it becomes a motive. 
Pain may also act in this way by impelling us to the 
avoidance of an action, and it may be the adoption of 
some opposite course. In this way arise many mo- 
tives, either of an inciting or deterrent character, 
which influence the will in a very forcible manner. 
Pleasurable and painful emotions may, however, if 
acting in opposite directions, neutralize each other 
to a greater or less degree according to their relative 
proportions. 

The proper direction of the emotions so that they 
may act in a way beneficial to the child, and furnish, 
directly or indirectly, motives to exertion, is an im- 

T 



274 Discipline and Moral Training. 

portant consideration in education ; and such meas- 
ures should be adopted, as will enable the teacher to 
make useful appeal to these powerful aids towards 
securing the voluntary exercise of the child's powers, 
in the direction in which we need to employ them. 
As, however, original predisposition, mental develop- 
ment, and the state of the health have very consider- 
able effect in determining susceptibility ; and as the 
emotional exercise of no two individuals can have 
been the same ; motives which act powerfully upon 
some natures scarcely affect others at all. Hence 
motives correct enough at some periods of moral 
growth may at others be not only ineffective, but 
injurious. This shows us again how important it is 
to know the nature of the child — from this point of 
view, that we may judge what motives may be most 
suitably employed at a particular time to accomplish 
a particular end. 

It is a law of emotional action that frequent or 
violent exercise rapidly weakens succeeding effects ; 
hence for special appeals we should rely upon as 
wide a range of motives as possible, only make occa- 
sional use of the same motive if founded on an emo- 
tional basis, and employ the least amount of emotional 
stimulus which will serve our purpose. All violence 
of emotion is bad in the case of children, not only 
from its deadening effect upon the sensibility, but 
because it may lead to positive injury. Powerful ap- 
peals to the feelings should rarely or never be made. 
To teach so as to bring children frequently into tears 
is not difficult to one who knows them, but it is in the 
highest degree mischievous. 

In some individuals the emotions seem naturally 
strong. Poets, musicians, and artists are generally 



The Use of the Emotions in Education. 275 

men of the keenest susceptibility to feeling. Where 
the emotional side of the mind is highly developed it 
is likely largely to influence the conduct, and the 
proper regulation of the emotions is a matter of great 
importance. A person in whom these act strongly, 
and who allows himself to be hurried into action be- 
fore the judgment has proper time to act, is said to 
be impulsive. The emotional force, however, fre- 
quently spends itself in a first burst, and as a motive^ 
although strong for the time, has little persistence. 
Against a habit of being governed by spasmodic 
effects of this kind — the fit of zeal being usually 
followed, by one of apathy — we should do our best to 
guard children, and to strengthen in them the power 
of endurance and self-restraint. It is well to bear in 
mind in our treatment of them, that the will has little 
direct influence over the emotions ; yet that it may 
materially weaken their power indirectly, by turning 
the attention away from the cause of the emotion, 
by strengthening an antagonistic power, and by con- 
trolling the outward expression. It may also be 
made to govern their influence as motives. The 
greatest care should therefore be exercised wherever 
the emotional elements of a child's nature come into 
question. Thus it may cost a child full of animal 
spirits an amount of effort of which we do not take 
the trouble to form any conception to restrain him- 
self from action, and remain quiet as told. A child 
may control himself in grief or pain sufficiently not 
to cry out, but it is absurd to command him not to 
sob. In the case of laughter at anything ludicrous 
which turns up in a class, it is far better to let the 
fit expend itself naturally at once, than to endeavor 
to stifle it, and continue the teaching with an accom- 



2y6 Discipline and Moral Training. 

paniment of small outbursts. To scold or threaten a 
child till he is in a tremor of fear, and then command 
him to do something perhaps requiring all his wits to 
perform properly, is often to demand an impossibility ; 
and to threaten still further, and at last punish him 
for disobedience, not only shows ignorance of the 
child's nature, but inflicts a cruel wrong which will 
leave its mark behind it for many a day. It is to be 
feared that some cases at least of so-called obstinacy 
are of this character. What we call nervousness, when 
we are placed in an unusual or trying situation, is 
also an emotional outburst, and may so agitate the 
mind as to paralyze all power of thought. This too 
must be allowed for. The way to overcome it is by 
encouragement and experience ; and to scold a child 
for it, or for the spasmodic movements which some- 
times accompany it, is but to increase the evil. While 
therefore we should accustom children to the indirect 
control of emotion by the will, we should take care 
that our exactions are reasonable, and in case of 
emotional excitement allow proper time for its sub- 
sidence. 

Some persons again of cold philosophical temper- 
ament are very little influenced by emotion, especially 
of some kinds. They view suffering with indifference, 
greatness or beauty without admiration, and have but 
little sympathy with their fellows. The exclusive at- 
tention to the development of the intellectual side of 
the mind, more especially if the imagination has been 
dwarfed by neglect, not unfrequently leads to this 
result. Mathematicians often fail to appreciate or 
to be moved by any of the beauties of art. Landor, 
in one of his dialogues, makes Chesterfield say, 
* Newton like Barrow had no feeling or respect for 



The Use of the Emotions in Education. 277 

poetry.' Where the emotions are abnormally inac- 
tive it is to be viewed as a defect. Children of this 
cold unsympathetic nature are often the most diffi- 
cult to deal with. They seem dead to most of the 
ordinary motives which influence others of their own 
age, and need the nicest adjustment of conditions, 
and the most judicious stimulation and treatment, in 
order to train them successfully. 

Directly our sympathetic emotions fail to affect 
us towards action, and we are content to have our 
feelings stirred without making any effort in behalf 
of the distress of others, our sympathy degenerates 
into mere sentimentality. We should do our best to 
prevent this degeneration in the case of children. 
Care and moderation are necessary in our use of im- 
aginary stories as illustrations ; there is always a 
temptation to overcolor and arouse a false emotion, 
while the frequent appeal with no attention to the 
practical carrying out of the lesson learned tends to 
deaden sensibility. The emotions are so intimately 
connected with the moral nature, that the culture of 
the one is necessarily to a large extent bound up with 
the development of the. other; and in the correct 
union of the two lies the strength of the training im- 
parted. Association thus acts powerfully here as in 
the sphere of the intellect proper. Without accom- 
panying emotion morality is little more than a cold 
and lifeless routine. 

One important object in moral education is the 
association of a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction 
with right conduct, and of pain with wrong doing. 
This must be so accomplished that the connection 
may be as natural as possible, and the nature of the 
pleasure become of a higher and higher type as the 



278 Discipline and Moral Training. 

child is able to appreciate higher and nobler motives. 
As a natural consequence of certain actions pain may- 
be left to accomplish its own end, but artificial ap- 
peals to it as a motive need the very greatest circum- 
spection, both as to the temperateness of its use and 
the mode of its association with action. Shame judi- 
ciously used may be made a powerful engine for ac- 
complishing our ends with children ; if used too fre- 
quently its familiarity destroys its effect. Fear which 
is of the nature of dread or terror should find little or 
no place among the emotions induced to serve the 
purposes of the educator. A discipline of terror not 
only fails to successfully accomplish its end, but gives 
rise to many of the worst vices of slavery ; hypocrisy 
and falsehood, idleness directly there seems a chance 
of not being being found out, meanness and cunning, 
hatred, and a train of other evils. Under such a disci- 
pline no true or useful moral growth can take place. 

Children are often emotionally influenced very 
readily by their surroundings, and are easily pleased 
on the one hand, or rendered unhappy on the other. 
The importance of happiness to children is very 
great, and anything which will conduce to this should 
not be overlooked. Their work should be made as 
pleasant for them as circumstances and the need of 
vigorous effort will admit ; no unnecessary restraint 
should be put upon their liberty ; they should be 
spared as much as possible both the sight and the 
description of bodily suffering ; and it should not be 
forgotten that much of their happiness is of a reflected 
character and dependent upon the cheerfulness and 
sympathy of those around them. Under the sunshine 
of pleasurable conditions the better parts of a child's 
nature unfold themselves naturally, put on added 



The Use of the Emotions in Education. 279 

tints of beauty, and grow with a strength and vigor 
which enables them successfully to resist the dwarf- 
ing effects of evil influences. 

' Sympathy,' says Miss Edgeworth, ' is our first 
best friend in education.' The great value of the 
existence of this feeling between teacher and taught 
has already been dwelt upon. Its influence both in 
learning and discipline is very great. Every mem- 
ber of the school should feel the teacher's esteem 
and approbation to be a reward worth striving for, 
and his ever ready sympathy an encouragement and 
stimulus to right action. We must attend also to 
the cultivation of the sympathy of children one with 
another, not only that phase which exhibits itself in 
cases of pain or distress, but that spirit of helpful- 
ness and that genuine and habitual consideration for 
the feelings of others which form the foundation of 
all true courtesy. Nor must kindness to animals be 
forgotten. 

One of the emotions which conduces most perhaps 
to educational improvement is the pleasure of study, 
of steady pursuit, of success in the accomplishment 
of a set purpose. All steadily continued and honestly 
performed work, of whatever kind, will scarcely fail 
to arouse and strengthen this useful feeling. Such 
effort has also a further moral value ; lessons of per- 
severance, patience, regularity, and the wholesome- 
ness of work do not exhaust its gains. It is the 
teacher's part to encourage this emotional stimulus 
of labor, to rouse to earnest self-effort, and to step in 
with help just before difficulty passes into dishearten- 
ment. Further, the establishment of a love for school 
and of a healthy esprit de corps — mainly the result of 
respect for and confidence in the teacher, of pleasant 



280 Discipline and Moral Training. 

conditions of work, and of feelings aroused by con- 
sciousness of progress and success — may be made 
of much service to the child's well-being, and should 
form one of the aims of every teacher who would 
have his school work what it should be. 

In addition to the above we must also gi re heed 
to the emotions aroused by the contemplation of 
beauty, sublimity, goodness, order, harmony, &£. — in 
a word, the cesthetic emotions. These add largely to 
the pleasures of life by giving us a greatly increased 
enjoyment in the contemplation of external things, 
whether of nature or of art ; they lead us to recognize 
the beauty and attractiveness of truth and right, and 
by contrast the ugliness and repulsiveness of false- 
hood and vice, thus not only enabling us to distin- 
guish them more clearly, but affording an additional 
motive for choosing the one and avoiding the other ; 
they assist the growth of the more spiritual part of 
our nature, by withdrawing the attention from the 
more gross and animal side ; and they soften the na- 
ture, improve the manners, and tend to strengthen all 
the emotions of sympathetic tendency. The aesthetic 
emotions act spontaneously, and the germs exist at 
an early date ; but they may be greatly developed 
by culture both in strength and extent of range. We 
may say roughly that emotional culture of this kind 
should render our appreciation keener and our de- 
tection more acute of three kinds of beauty : first, 
the intellectual beauty of truth and order ; second, 
the moral beauty of goodness and right ; and third, 
the physical beauty of nature, of things with and 
without life. Art frequently combines elements from 
all three. 

An important thing in training this side of the emo- 



The Use of the Emotions in Education. 2<Sr 

tional nature is in the first place to fix the attention 
strongly upon the pleasure derived from right, truth, 
and beauty; and until this positive cultivation has 
left its fixed influence on the mind, to admit as few 
disturbing elements of an opposite kind as may be. 
The opportunities in the course of school-work of 
kindling a first glow of emotion respecting this or 
that, of dropping a suggestive word here, of pointing 
an example there, of rousing the attention and guid- 
ing the observation to see what we wish, are neither 
rare nor unimportant, apart from any formal teaching. 
The consideration of outward things should come first, 
the mind being directed to such matters as form, color, 
proportion, harmony, and unity of design combined 
with variety of effect. Music will also early find a 
useful place ; singing, especially of patriotic songs 
and those connected with the home life, affording 
many elements of beneficial emotional culture. Later 
on the attempt should be made to train to the recog- 
nition of the beauty of law and order, and finally of 
unflinching adherence to duty, of generosity, of cour- 
age, &c. Wherever occasion offers we should seek to 
strengthen the emotions of admiration and reverence. 
Oral lessons will supply frequent means of direct- 
ing attention to various beauties of nature, or of the 
productions of human ingenuity. Reading — espec- 
ially of poetry, history, and imaginative prose — will 
afford many opportunities of useful training. The 
examination of good drawings and pictures will prove 
of much value ; though grotesque examples and cari- 
catures should at first be avoided, and only sparingly 
used at any time with children. The services of the 
drawing-lesson, too, should not be left out ; and many 
useful hints may also be given respecting good taste 



282 Discipline and Moral Training. 

in dress, more particularly as to the avoidance of 
showy or false ornament and badly -arranged colors. 
It is very needful to guide a child's early aesthetic 
associations, not only on account of the permanence 
of impressions during the first years, but also because 
the results will be constantly referred back to, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, as the first rough standards 
of judgment. The pleasures of good taste are mat- 
ters of slow growth, and though the effect of our ef- 
forts may not be immediately discernible their influ- 
ence will by no means be lost. The saturation-point 
will be reached at last. Be it remembered, also, that 
what we want is to make children/^/ not talk about 
these things — that it is appreciation and not criti- 
cism which we have to aim at. 



General Moral and Religious Training. 283 



CHAPTER II. 

GENERAL MORAL AND RELIGIOUS TRAINING. 

The object of moral training is to afford the child 
such guidance and control from without, as shall lead 
to enlightened, regulated, and persevering effort from 
within ; the external stimulus and direction being 
withdrawn in proportion as his moral strength and 
knowledge increase, and he is able safely to go more 
and more alone. As law and duty come gradually to 
the front, the authority of the educator withdraws in- 
to the background; the personal element, so neces- 
sary at first, may be gradually eliminated as the 
child's power of grasping abstract things strength- 
ens ; and the support of earthly parents and teachers 
becomes less and less necessary as he learns to rely 
upon the support of that Heavenly Father, whom he 
must be taught to look up to as the Source of all good 
and the Fountain of all true strength. 

The association in the child's mind of right or 
wrong with certain actions takes place very early, the 
germ no doubt being found in the effect produced by 
the expression of pleasure or displeasure on the part 
of the parent, and starting into life independently of 
any ideas obtained from language. Love and faith 
lie at the root of the child's morality. As his experi- 
ence becomes greater the spheres of right and wrong 



284 Discipline and Moral Training. 

expand, but are still largely influenced by the earliest 
impressions, by the consideration whether they are 
allowed or disallowed ; obedience is still the main 
test, and it is not till later that the child comes to 
form any adequate idea of moral rectitude apart from 
the will or wish of another. The sanction of the 
parent is the child's first canon of judgment. The 
earliest moral notions of a child thus depend almost 
entirely upon his surroundings — the approbation or 
disapprobation of others, the consequences which he 
discovers result from certain actions, the example of 
those around him, and the amount of sympathy and 
guidance afforded him. It is in the nature of things 
that the training to which children are subjected should 
vary, that the effects should differ with original dif- 
ferences of constitution, and thus we cannot wonder 
that no two persons should ever think exactly alike. 
Still that there is a general consensus of opinion upon 
all important moral points is beyond dispute, and hence 
it becomes important for the educator to consider how 
the child may best be brought to know what is ex- 
pected of him, and be influenced to act accordingly. 
Different natures need different treatment : some 
seem almost incapable of realizing the weight of moral 
responsibility, some are strong in one thing, some in 
another. Some need stimulation, some need re- 
straint ; nor are the same measures suitable to al. 
phases of moral action, any more than to all the intel- 
lectual faculties. Even the same point may need dif- 
ferent treatment at different times, and if we would 
succeed properly we must be able to estimate cor- 
rectly the exact state of present conditions, and be 
guided by our judgment of the needs of the moment ; 
not, however, for the sake of the moment, for, so far as 



General Moral and Religious Training. 285 

results are concerned, the future is of much more im- 
portance than the present. Knowledge of the child is 
essential. We must watch carefully his actions and 
tendencies, and make use of the information thus af- 
forded. Much of our success depends upon seizing just 
the critical moment to do the right thing, say the right 
word, give the encouraging or reproving look. No com- 
plete course of treatment can be laid down for all cases : 
circumstances will always introduce large modifications 
of method, and must be allowed for. If antagonistic 
they will have to be overcome, if favorable made use of, 
as far as other conditions will admit. Whatever schemes 
and plans are formed they must be kept out of notice of 
the child, he must feel only the influences and results. 
Morality is strengthened by the support of the in- 
tellect on the one side, and by the benevolent emo- 
tions on the other. Using the terms broadly, intel- 
lectual and moral training are the complements the 
one of the other ; and attention to both is necessary 
in anything worthy of the name of education. But we 
seem at the present day to be in some danger of for- 
getting the intimate connection of the two, and of de- 
voting ourselves more exclusively to the cultivation of 
the one to the neglect of the other and the injury of 
both. The energy with which we apply ourselves to 
intellectual pursuits, as well as the good or bad use we 
make of our acquisitions, depends to a great extent up- 
on the moral training which accompanies the cultiva- 
tion of the mind in other directions. Without moral 
guidance our skill and knowledge may be a source of 
evil to ourselves and unhappiness to those with whom 
we are brought into connection. To attempt the di- 
vorce of morality and intelligence is to violate the 
great principle which should govern all education. 



286 Discipline and Moral Training. 

The earliest moral training gives that bent to the 
mind which is likely to govern its direction in a 
greater or less degree throughout life ; not only be- 
cause the child once started in the right course is 
much less likely to turn towards evil, but also from 
the permanence of the effect produced upon him dur- 
ing the early days. A wrong start is a most serious 
drawback, and the work of reclamation is a much more 
difficult one than that of guidance and promotion. It is 
thus of prime importance, if we would be sure of suc- 
cess, to begin early ; and much may be done for the 
moral nature by appropriate means before it is well 
to interfere with the intellectual powers at all in the 
way of direct training. The development, however, 
must be perfectly natural. Precocity of any kind is 
to be discouraged. It makes a present show by the 
sacrifice of strength hereafter. Its evil effects in in- 
tellectual matters are generally recognized, and it is 
equally harmful in regard to morality and religion. 
Unnatural development of any side of the child's 
nature will in the end work the ruin of that which 
we are so anxious to cultivate. 

Moral education has for its object the development 
of the sense of duty, and the gradual training to such 
self-control that, in all ordinary circumstances at 
least, the mind will certainly incline to that which is 
right, and action be governed accordingly. The 
touchstone of morality is good conduct. 

The elements to be made use of in moral training are, 
(i) knowledge and intelligence, that the child may per- 
ceive what he ought to do, and later on why he should 
act in a particular way, so that he may be guided by 
right principles and judge correctly of the nature of 
action ; (2) right motives, varying with age and pro- 



General Moral and Religious Training. 287 

gress, that he may be induced to act correctly ; (3) vo- 
lition, that he may determine to do that which is 
right, and have power to check himself when any 
evil tendency exists ; and (4) practice, passing gradu- 
ally into good habits. The chief conditions of success 
are : freedom of action for the child as far as safety 
goes, external direction in cases where he is likely to 
go wrong, control when he allows himself to fall into 
evil, sympathy and encouragement in his efforts, and 
the good example both in words and actions of those 
with whom he is more intimately connected. The 
moral atmosphere indeed in which the child lives is 
of the greatest importance to his well-being, nor must 
the sunshine of cheerfulness ever be long absent. 
The great drawback to success is often the home dif- 
ficulty, the bias sometimes of both parents and com- 
panions in certain moral directions being distinctly 
against the teacher's exhortation and control. The 
parents have not unfrequently to be influenced through 
the children, before useful results can be arrived at. 

What we have to aim at in moral training is to in- 
duce the child to act in accordance with the dictates 
of the highest and best motives he is capable of un- 
derstanding; to lead him gradually to judge for him- 
self as to what is right and noble in conduct ; and to 
incline him to make a correct choice and adhere to it. 
What is to be considered noblest, what highest, he 
must learn from others ; and the moral notions he 
forms will depend upon the persons by whom he is 
surrounded. Later on the influence of books must 
not be forgotten. It is only, however, by experience, 
by conquest of temptation, by perseverance in right 
action, that he can grow in moral strength, and this 
little by little. It is our business to take care that 



288 Discipline and Moral Training. 

while he is allowed to walk himself the difficulties of 
the road are not too great for such strength as he 
possesses, to remove any stumbling block which may 
be in the way, and to lend a helping hand when any 
pitfall presents itself. 'By diminishing temptation,' 
says Miss Edgeworth, * we act more humanely than 
by multiplying restraints and punishments.' Every 
temptation yielded to destroys or neutralizes a cer- 
tain amount of moral force, which has to be made 
good ; every evil tendency mastered has facilitated 
the next conquest. Children must be led to see that 
to escape from temptation or evil thoughts the atten- 
tion should be fixed to the best of their power upon 
other things, and that to let the mind dwell upon the 
evil is to weaken resistance, and greatly increase the 
danger of falling. As, however, the will is weak in 
children, we must not rely too much on their power of 
resistance, but make right action as easy and pleas- 
ant to them as circumstances allow. 

It does not serve the purpose of moral training 
simply to impose upon the child a certain code of re- 
strictions, and bring in authority to support them. 

Too exclusive attention is frequently given to 
what shall not be done. At best, prohibitions can only 
cover comparatively few cases of action presented to 
the mind for judgment ; and it is mischievous to allow 
a child to suppose he may do anything which has not 
been expressly forbidden. We want him to pause 
and think for himself before committing himself to 
any line of conduct about which he is not clear. It is 
the spirit of morality, rather than the letter, which 
we have to inculcate. Very frequently too we lay far 
too many injunctions to do right upon children : we 
are continually telling them to be good, without doing 



General Moral and Religious Training. 289 

anything further to induce them to act as we would 
have them. Children soon weary of being thus lec- 
tured at every turn, and such a course is much more 
likely to disgust them than create in them a liking 
for right doing. ■ Long talking begets short hear- 
ing,' says Richter, and he adds in another place, 
' Even a grown-up man, whom some one should follow 
all day long with movable pulpit and stool of confes- 
sion, from which to hurl sermons and anathemas, 
could never attain any real activity and moral free- 
dom ; how much less then a weak child who at every 
step in life must be entangled in a " stop — run — be 
quiet — do that." ' To command a child to be good is 
one thing, to influence him to be good is quite an- 
other. Nor must we be over strict; we must leave 
him room to grow, and remember that many defects 
are but weaknesses which time will correct. We are 
too anxious to see the fruit almost before we have 
planted the seed. If a child is right-minded, anxious 
to improve, and makes as brave a struggle to act 
rightly as his strength allows, it is all we can reason- 
ably hope for. Ignorance, inexperience, and a crav- 
ing to know, are fruitful sources of wrong doing in 
children : there is always a tendency to try what things 
are like, and as they have little power of realizing fu- 
ture evils, or of judging correctly of effects, they make 
the essay, even at the risk of some pain to themselves. 
Nor is this to be deplored, if no permanent evil re- 
sults ; in most cases a salutary, and probably neces- 
sary lesson will have been learned, and learned in a 
way not likely to be forgotten. It is often difficult, 
however, to make a child recognize the evil of an action 
where the effects are not immediate, and do not di- 
rectly affect others. Here instruction must be left to 
u 



290 Discipline and Moral Training. 

do its work, and every occasion must be seized to strip 
evi] of its attractiveness and show its true nature. 

A large number of our actions are naturally neutral 
in character, and no attempt should be made to invest 
these with a moral significance. The teacher must be 
careful not to confuse the pupil's moral judgment by 
magnifying breaches of the smaller matters of school 
discipline — such as talking, not standing or marching 
properly, making undue noise, &c. — and placing them 
alongside serious moral offences. The child must be 
made to understand that it is not here the act itself 
which is wrong, but the disobedience or careless in- 
jury of others which it implies. He must be led to 
see that through life we have to refrain from doing 
many things harmless in themselves, for the sake of 
the convenience and happiness of those around us. 

When the child is sufficiently advanced to under- 
stand, he must be taught why it is necessary he should 
act in a certain way ; but we must be cautious how 
far we introduce such reasons, and what opportunities 
we make use of. We may usefully explain the grounds 
of certain requirements in order that their justice 01 
nature may be apprehended, and obedience rendered 
easier thereby, long before we rely upon the action of 
reason as a motive to right conduct. It may be said 
generally, that reasons for requests should be given 
earlier than, and prepare the way for, reasons for com- 
mands. If we allow a child to judge for himself and 
expect him to act rightly from conviction of responsi- 
bility, we must keep authority in the back ground. 
In such a degree as choice is allowed, compulsion is 
out of place ; and on the other hand, if we compel 
him to accept our views as to what is to be done, we 
must not place our faith in the reasons for such action 



General Moral and Religions Training. 291 

having any weight with him. So far as we expect 
him to be guided by reason we must leave him a free 
agent, and look for support, not to compulsion, but to 
aid and encouragement. While, however, we allow 
reason its proper place, we should not argue with those 
under our charge concerning their shortcomings ; a 
merely argumentative discipline is never strong, and 
is likely to lead to mischievous results. 

Cheerful and ready submission is to be cultivated 
in children, but we must take care on our part to 
refrain from a mere despotic exercise of authority. 
Compulsion can only be properly used to enforce 
abstention from wrong doing, and is not to be counted 
upon to raise any inclination to act from a higher 
motive. That which we are compelled to do is no 
longer virtuous, or commendable, though it may be 
right ; and such performance gives no inducement to 
voluntary good conduct ; but rather the coercion tends 
in the contrary direction by rousing opposition. Too 
much control in any case leads to baneful results : 
either the child continually sighs for freedom, and 
when restraint is removed plunges headlong into ex- 
cesses ; or he sinks into a poor timid, maudlin creat- 
ure, discouraged and frightened by the experiences 
of life, and having scarcely any power of self-direc- 
tion he falls an easy victim to the wiles of evil com- 
panions. Independence must not be destroyed but 
simply kept within due bounds. 

To know what is right is, it is true, very different 
from doing what is right : yet knowledge is absolutely 
necessary as one of the conditions of the latter, and 
proper teaching is therefore of great value. The ob- 
jects of Moral Instruction are mainly fourfold : — 

1. To enlighten the child as to the nature and 



292 Discipline and Moral Training, 

kinds of duty and the grounds of action ; to lay down 
for him certain general lines of good conduct; and to 
make him acquainted with the range and relative 
nobility of motives. 

2. To cultivate the moral intelligence, strengthen 
the judgment as to what is right or wrong, and induce 
pre -consideration of the probable effects of any par- 
ticular action. 

3. To associate pleasurable emotions with right 
doing, and to arouse and stimulate the wish to act in 
accordance with the demands of duty. 

4. The summing up of the results of the child's 
knowledge and experience into easily remembered 
precepts or principles, which shall serve to guide the 
mind by affording ever-ready tests of action, and help 
to maintain a high ideal for imitation. 

Moral instruction must be characterized by point, 
vividness, applicability, connection, and interest. It 
must be natural, suggestive, within the child's com- 
prehension, suited to his advancement and experience, 
treated in a simple direct way, and should be personal 
and particularized, not mere talk of theoretical moral- 
ity. It should render clear to the child what he ought 
to do, in what spirit he should act, what are his duties 
towards others, and should bring out the consistency 
and harmoniousness of moral laws. It is teaching, not 
preaching, which is wanted ; and the instruction should 
be largely illustrated by actual cases of conduct drawn 
from biography, school life, &c. Of many virtues a 
child forms no idea except through their exemplifica- 
tion in personal action. To talk abstract generalities 
to children, is to repel their sympathy and deaden 
their sensibility and intelligence, to substitute a mean- 
ingless symbolism for what should be a living reality. 



General Moral and Religious Training. 293 

Teaching which addresses the memory only can have 
little or no moral value. Moral instruction should 
dwell upon virtues to be imitated, the nobleness of ad- 
herence to duty, the reward of uprightness, the man- 
liness of right conduct, and but incidentally speak of 
wrong to be avoided. It is never well to dissect vice 
before children ; the less they are familiarized with evil 
the better ; to anticipate their experience and talk of 
vices of which they have no knowledge is in a high 
degree harmful. The precepts of morality infused 
should be living, influencing, and expansive principles, 
associated with and interpreted by practice; not cold 
artificial maxims. Memorizing mere precepts and 
rules of life beyond the child's grasp, or without pro- 
per explanation and illustration, is a species of moral 
cram, as useless, and as much to be deprecated, as 
any other stuffing of the mind with mere indigestible 
facts. The more compact and striking a precept, and 
the more fully its meaning is grasped, the greater 
influence it will have. Such truths well learned in 
childhood are very rarely forgotten ; the moral dye is 
a lasting one, and can never be wholly obliterated by 
after circumstances. They are something for the 
mind to fall back upon, they tend to give certainty to 
moral decisions, and serve as a groundwork for moral 
reasonings. Besides Scripture teaching and set mor- 
al lessons, many school occurrences, history, stories 
in reading books, and some of the other secular les- 
sons, will afford examples or illustrations, and serve to 
fix a moral. Unless, however, the whole lesson tends 
directly to illustrate some rule of conduct or moral 
law, it is generally better to leave truth to do its own 
work, than to give any distinctly moral exhortation or 
application at the finish. In any case, if a practical 



294 Discipline and Moral Training. 

conclusion is drawn, it must be the natural outcome 
of the teaching, and not a mere moral tag dangled 
at the end. Children weary at once of any moral 
dragged into a lesson by the head and shoulders. 

' In all the ages of our life,' says Fenelon, * example 
has a most wonderful power over us, but in children 
it can do everything.' It is certainly one of the most 
potent influences brought to bear upon the child, and 
it must not be forgotten may act as strongly for evil 
as for good, perhaps more so. The moral tone and 
right conduct of those more especially with whom 
the child is in sympathy, or with whom he daily 
associates, are thus of the highest importance. Qur 
manners and actions must be in accordance with our 
teaching ; what we do affects children morally even 
more than what we say, and they interpret the latter 
by the light of the former. We must let them see that 
we have faith in what we say, and that our teachings 
are not mere surface opinions . ' Boyhood which detests, 
as they deserve, all kinds of sham and pretence, easily 
places itself at the disposal of ' a profound sincerity ; 
1 owns as a true guide one who lives under an authority 
of the rules he imposes, and whose administration of 
command is in itself an exercise of obedience.' 1 The 
great imitative tendency in children is one which every 
teacher should clearly recognize ; and he should feel 
too that not only is his influence great, but that his 
responsibility is proportionate. There must be no 
double dealing on his part, no pretension to knowledge 
he does not possess, no attempted mystification of a 
pupil to hide a difficulty ; he must avoid all affectation, 
and endeavor to his utmost to be what he would 
have children think him ; and last but not least, if 

1 Rev. James Martineau, quoted by Dr. Carpenter. 



General Moral and Religious Training. 295 

he would retain the confidence of children he must 
keep his word. Many a promise may be carelessly 
broken, many a -threatened punishment forgotten, 
unless we are careful both in saying what we will do 
and in carrying it out. Such instances will not only 
weaken the child's faith in the teacher, but detract 
seriously from the weight attached to truthfulness. 
We need not fear the admission of any error into 
which we have fallen : the thorough honesty of purpose 
shown will be much more likely to increase the child's 
respect, while if we attempt deception we shall be 
pretty certain to be found out, for children are far 
more acute and penetrating in finding out our true 
character than we often give them credit for. ' The 
moral training received in a well conducted school,' 
says Professor Pillans, 1 ' from observing the example 
of strict and impartial justice in the conduct of the 
master, his kindness to all, his paternal regard for 
their improvement, his patience with the slow, his 
encouragement of the quick, his unruffled serenity of 
temper, and his reluctance to punish, is far more im- 
portant to the pupil's well-being in the world and his 
character as a member of society, than any given 
amount of literary acquirement. The good or evil 
lessons which a boy draws for himself, almost uncon- 
sciously, from the master's demeanor in school, are 
more influential and impressive than any direct in- 
struction.' 

The force of example is not confined to cases in 
which the direct observation of the pupil is concerned. 
The imitative tendency acts also when his sympathy 
and admiration are aroused by the recital of courage- 
ous, noble, or generous deeds. It has often been re- 

1 Contributions to Education. 



296 Discipline and Moral Training. 

marked that children are great hero-worshippers, and 
this feeling must not be destroyed. Examples, how- 
ever, should be selected from real life, and as faithfully 
and naturally portrayed as possible : if overcolored, 
or exaggerated into abnormal instances of virtue, chil- 
dren may perhaps be led to look upon them with ad- 
miration, but will not be moved by them at all in the 
way of imitation. With respect to evil example, its 
injuriousness lies principally in its duration. Any evil 
continually before a child, which serves even in a slight 
degree as a temptation, is likely to have pernicious ef- 
fects : a chance wrong has much less power to induce 
imitation. It is familiarity with an attractive-looking 
vice which is to be dreaded. 

Although instruction and example are powerful 
means of inducing right action in children, the practice 
of morality is not placed on a sound basis until such 
action has become habitual. Habit indeed is one of 
the most effective safeguards to morality ; and the 
formation of good habits in children should be looked 
upon as a very essential side of moral training. The 
force of the tendency to repetition in children is very 
great, as shown not only by their actions, but by their 
thoughts, and the way in which they frequently 
anticipate the recurrence of things which have hap- 
pened once. One performance makes the next 
easier. It is a law of our nature for a succeeding 
action of the same kind, either mental or moral, to 
follow in the track of the preceding one, until at last 
a strong tendency is induced. Habits are certain to 
be formed; hence we must be vigilant as to their 
start, check those likely to be troublesome or to 
neutralize the influence we exert in other ways, and 
take the others under our guidance and control. Just 



General Moral and Religious Training. 297 

as our earliest mental impressions are as it were 
burnt into the mind, so habits formed in childhood 
and continued for any considerable length of time are 
very tenacious ; and though their influence may be 
so weakened that they may seem to be destroyed, 
they will frequently be found to recover vitality 
whenever a suitable stimulus arises. It is this 
which makes it of so great importance that the ear- 
liest habits should be of a helpful kind, and that 
those of wrong tendency should never be allowed to 
gain any strength. Habits are very easily formed, 
because here the bias is strongly in our favor, but 
very difficult to undo, because here the proclivity has 
been greatly strengthened, and is entirely opposed to 
us. The work of reformation, indeed, in the case of 
bad habits is a very slow and troublesome one, needing- 
constant care, great patience, and much encourage- 
ment. It is well to consider how much mental and 
moral power has often to be wasted on such work. 
When once a habit of doing a thing has become fixed,, 
it is of no use to forbid it absolutely and expect the 
child to act up to our command ; it is impossible for 
him to obey all at once. Severity will simply dis- 
hearten ; we must give time, and allow for many 
backslidings. If conquest is being gradually achieved 
we must be content. Nor should we direct attention 
to too many faults at once : the attempt to cure a 
number of bad habits together is likely to lead to the 
reformation of none. Enemies may be slain one at 
a time, who united would be too much for us. While, 
however, good moral habits duly strengthened have 
great power in keeping the child to the right path, 
and give spontaneity of action, we must do our best 
to prevent their usurping the place of other powers. 



298 Discipline and Moral Training. 

There is always the danger that intelligence and 
judgment may cease to act, and the conduct degener- 
ate into an unprogressive mechanical routine of duty. 
A self-acting moral machine is not our design. 

All our training should tend to make a child feel 
and act up to his responsibility as a moral agent. 
Our existence is not an isolated one, and we cannot 
live for ourselves alone. This the child must be 
made to recognize, and some preparation must be given 
to fit him to play his part, not only courageously, but 
with due attention to the rights and happiness of 
others. Selfishness lies at the bottom of so many of 
our shortcomings, and is so natural to children, that 
attention to its repression in our training will do 
much to clear the way for the development of par- 
ticular virtues. The more important of these may be 
usefully grouped, at least so far as the present pur- 
pose is concerned, under three principal heads : — 

1. yustice showing itself as candor in our thoughts 
and judgments of others ; truthfulness in our words ; 
honesty in our actions. 

2. Prudence, including industry or diligence, thrift, 
temperance, devotion to study, &c. 

3. Benevolence, including such phases as love, kind- 
ness, sympathy, generosity, magnanimity, compas- 
sion, forgiveness of injuries, &c. 

Of many virtues, as previously remarked, a child 
forms no conception except through their exemplifica- 
tion in personal action. Hence our teaching must 
refer to particular cases, and will frequently have more 
effect if given when any marked instance of nobility 
of conduct has just been brought under the attention 
of children, either in reading or in practice. We must 
do our best to cultivate a spirit of openness and candor 



General Moral and Religious Training. 299 

in children, lead them to attach proper value to the 
approbation of others, and gradually arouse in them 
a feeling of honor and true manliness. All actions 
which are dishonorable, cowardly, mean, or wrong, 
are to be associated with loss of confidence, shame, 
reprobation, and disgrace. Small vices lead to great 
ones, and grow rapidly if not attended to ; nothing 
that influences the moral life of a child, even remotely, 
is unimportant. It is often difficult to estimate the 
effect of trivial things for good or evil, but a little 
reflection will show us how much influence small 
matters have upon the conduct of all of us. We must 
not count upon much insight into the nature of very 
many actions in the case of children, but we ourselves 
must be all the more watchful on this account in 
attending to their moral growth. 

Want of charity in our estimate, of others is one 
of the commonest of shortcomings. We should be 
very cautious how we speak contemptuously before 
children, and not allow them to depreciate others. 
They must be taught to take the most charitable 
view the circumstances will admit, and to bear in 
mind that we can scarcely ever know all the influences 
which led to a certain course of action, and are rarely 
in a position to judge with absolute justice of the 
conduct of others. We should avoid, too, allowing 
children to fall into a habit of comparing themselves 
with others. They are naturally prone to confine 
such comparisons to instances where they themselves 
are the gainers, and this gives rise to that spirit 
of conceit and self-righteousness, which effectually 
cramps our sympathies and prevents any true moral 
progress from being made. If comparisons are insti- 
tuted at all they should bring out how much we fall 



300 Discipline and Moral Training. 

below the standard, attainable by earnest endeavor 
under conditions no more favorable than those in 
which we are called upon to act. 

Truthfulness has been called the central pillar of 
school training, and certainly scarcely any part of our 
work is of more moment than the inculcation of the 
habit and spirit of truth-speaking. Children should 
feel that they have nothing to fear from being per- 
fectly open with us, that the gravity of an offence is 
greatly increased by deceit, and should see while we 
condemn the fault how much we value and admire 
moral courage and straightforwardness in owning to 
it. The less opportunity is afforded children for 
deceit, and the more they feel the certainty of our 
discovering their wrong-doing sooner or later, the 
better. We should therefore be very careful how we 
make rules where we have little chance of detecting 
their infringement. Fear, selfishness, and conceit are 
three prolific sources of lying. The less our discipline 
is characterized by severity and undue restraint the 
more truthful is the child likely to be. There is also 
much careless lying among children, from their not 
feeling the heinousness of it. Even at a very early 
age, however, they naturally resent it towards them- 
selves, and this should be made the basis of one side 
of our teaching respecting its evil effects. Not only 
should children be led to recognize the immorality of 
direct untruthfulness, but its more indirect and subtle 
forms should be set forth, and the viciousness and 
unworthiness of all trickery and double-dealing made 
clear. We should point out to the pupil the lie of 
wilfully allowing a false impression to be drawn from 
our words uncorrected, of expressing ourselves in a 
certain way in the hope that we shall be misunder- 



General Moral and Religious Training. 301 

stood, of offering paltry excuses for our faults, of 
hypocrisy or pretending we are what we are not, and 
of either carelessly or wilfully breaking our promises. 
We should not exact promises from children where 
the difficulties of fulfilment are likely to be too great 
for them. Caution must be exercised, too, how we 
question children where the temptation is great to 
give such an answer as would raise them in our 
estimation, or such as they feel we should like, or 
where the dread of exposure is likely to lead them 
to deceive. Wherever the response to a question is 
likely to lead to consequences unpleasant to the child, 
we must be careful not to hurry him in replying, else 
he will be very likely to follow the impulse to make 
good his case, or to try and shield himself: rather we 
should encourage the habit of pausing to think over 
his situation before he replies. Rousseau and others 
have recommended that when a child has told a lie we 
should not believe him again till he has shown himself 
worthy of our confidence. This, however, is a very 
doubtful kind of treatment, for the child is conscious 
that when he speaks the truth we can scarcely believe 
him guilty of falsehood, and in such a case our pretence 
of disbelief is a phase of that very deceit we wish to 
correct. Where we do not know or cannot prove a 
child is deceiving we must not show any suspicion ; 
blind accusation in the hope that a culprit will betray 
himself is not to be indulged in ; nor should we make 
use of cunning, espionage, or any underhand method 
of arriving at the truth. Such means are not only 
wrong but are sure to injure our influence, and are 
altogether unworthy of the teacher. We may be 
doubtful, but we must let it pass and trust to future 
watchfulness. Talebearing is to be discouraged at 



302 Discipline and Moral Training. 

all points : it is troublesome to the teacher, and 
mischievous both to informer and those informed 
against. It is generally done to curry favor, and 
leads to mean sneaking habits on the one hand, and 
revengeful feelings on the other. The difference, 
however, must be made perfectly clear between tattling 
about small things, or volunteering unasked-for reports 
about others, and the revelation of serious moral 
offences when called upon by the teacher to aid in 
putting them down. To stand by in such cases as 
these and see evil committed without making any 
sign is to become a party to the offence. Children 
should see that gross bad conduct puts the offender 
outside the pale of sympathy so far as the discovery 
of his guilt is concerned. To hide wrong in such a 
case would be to prevent his improvement and would 
be no true kindness to him. 

Cases of direct stealing will probably be rare, but 
there are two forms of dishonesty which are very 
common school experiences, and which must be care- 
fully looked after : these are copying, and the wanton 
damage or destruction of property belonging to others. 
The former will need all our care, and if due vigilance 
is not used in its detection, and a check put upon it 
wherever it is found, it will spread like a virulent 
disease through the school, and completely sap all 
moral strength. Nor should damage to property be 
neglected, or it will soon grow, and although the 
measures adopted will not need to be so decisive as in 
the first case, they must be no less prompt. 

Indecency in words or actions will call for vigorous 
action on the part of the teacher. Every effort should 
be made to guard children in any way possible from 
the contagion of evil images or filthy words. There 



General Moral and Religious Training. 303 

is no solvent which will fetch the stains of impurity 
out of the mind when once they have become fixed. 
Even the less pronounced forms of indelicacy must 
not be neglected. 

Children easily forgive, and rarely remember an 
injury like an adult. The bright elastic nature of a 
child soon throws off the effects of pain or trouble, 
and the sting of the wrong done him once past he is 
ready to make friends again directly any sorrow is 
expressed for the pain caused him. Children's quarrels 
are frequent, but they are soon made up again, and 
the remembrance of them rapidly fades from the mind. 
A child seems incapable of bearing malice long. This 
readiness to forgive is a valuable and lovable trait 
in the character of the young, and should always be 
treated as praiseworthy. In connection with it the 
child should be trained to a habit of readily acknow- 
ledging, and expressing his sorrow for, any injury he 
may have inflicted. As far as possible also any wrong 
should be righted. Intentional injuries in the case of 
children are nearly always the result of an outburst 
of passion, and they should be led to see the evil effects 
of an ungoverned temper and the great mischief it 
may lead to. Outrageous bursts of passion are a kind 
of lapse into temporary madness, and should be treated 
as such ; utterly unworthy in any one aspiring to true 
manliness. It is not the emotional excitement which 
is the evil, this may be largely constitutional and 
beyond direct control ; it is the reckless action induced 
by allowing it to govern us which is mischievous. Our 
actions can be kept within proper limits, and the child 
must be restrained, admonished, and encouraged, until 
the habit of firm self-government has been formed. 
Nearly all passions are but excesses of feelings which 



304 Discipline and Moral Training. 

under proper circumstances and in moderate degree 
have a use ; the thing is to prevent their obtaining 
dominion. They cannot be annihilated, nor would it 
be good for us if they could ; what we have to do 
where they act wrongly is to oppose them by sedu- 
lous cultivation of antagonistic tendencies, and by 
withdrawing the attention from them as much as 
possible to give right feelings fair play. 

Our moral tendencies and the pleasurable or pain- 
ful emotions associated with right or wrong actions 
are doubtless inherited, in greater or less degree, like 
almost every other characteristic of our nature. There 
is thus born with us an instinctive inclination to feel 
a flush of pleasure when we recognize an act as worthy, 
and of pain when unworthy or evil. This is the germ 
of the Conscience. If fostered this instinctive emotional 
tendency rapidly grows, and associates itself more and 
more thoroughly with distinctly moral or immoral 
actions, until it soon forms a kind of instantaneous 
accompaniment, acting independently of the reason or 
the will. And, as the pleasure or pain indicates the 
nature of the action, this associated emotion comes 
to partake of the character of an intuitive judgment, 
approving or condemning what is done, and in- 
volving a feeling that we ought to do that which 
this moral sense or instinct tells us is right. It is by 
no means an infallible guide, but depends mainly for 
its right action upon the cultivation it has received. 
Where we have been led astray by our previous 
training the conscience follows, and where the nature 
of the action is for the time doubtful, and we have to 
pause and reflect before deciding its character, the 
approval or disapproval is simply the emotional ratifi- 
cation of the decision, and dependent upon it. The 



General Moral and Religious Training. 305 

more doubtful is the nature of the action considered, 
the less strongly and promptly will the conscience act. 
On the other hand, the more intuitive indications of 
conscience are — like the instinctive action of common 
sense — frequently more to be relied upon than the 
decisions of reason ; and this trustworthiness is the 
greater the more the conscience is developed. 

We can thus easily see how it comes about, that 
in the children of criminals, especially if wrong-doing 
has run through several generations, even the germ 
of conscience is almost entirely absent ; why, if no 
attention is paid to morality, and the child is not 
taught to look upon right and wrong as matters of 
importance, the germ, even when present, remains 
dormant ; why, when it is once awakened into life, and 
a long course of action entirely opposed to its growth 
is indulged in, its power rapidly shrinks into that state 
which we speak of as deadened ; and why conscious 
resistance of temptation, and determination to act up 
to the light that is in us, strengthens its power, and 
we come to have what is called a tender conscience. 
We see also how it is that it exists in such very differ- 
ent degree in different individuals, and varies accord- 
ing to differences of conduct and belief ; why the most 
cruel and inhuman things have sometimes been done 
conscientiously ; how, since upon general points, and 
some characteristic ones, nearly all the members of a 
nation agree, there comes to be such a thing as 
national conscience, and why this depends upon the 
standard of moral growth and civilization attained. 

Conscience has not only a great influence over us 
as a guide and approver of our actions, but has much 
to do with fixing our morality. Without it morality 
would be a shifting sand, altered by every wave which 



3o6 Discipline and Moral Training. 

sweeps over our active life. Its proper development 
is therefore a matter of much concern, not only to the 
individual but with respect to the progress of the race. 
Although, then, the germ of the conscience is born 
with us, it depends almost entirely upon the kind 
and extent of the moral, religious, and intellectual 
training we undergo, as to what strength and correct- 
ness of action it shall attain. We should therefore 
lose no opportunity of associating emotions of pleasure 
and satisfaction with right doing, of enlightening the 
child as much as possible as to the nature of various 
actions, of strengthening the judgment by suitable ex- 
ercises, and of extending and ennobling the sense of 
duty. The cultivation of the conscience, so that it 
may be a sure guide to the child and he may readily 
obey its dictates, should engage the teacher's attention 
throughout the period of school life. This training 
is for the most part indirect, but it is none the less 
important, and should be none the less sure. Left to 
itself the conscience takes its color from the chance 
influence, good and bad, which govern us ; and as 
this fortuitous training can never be depended upon, 
and is certain to be not only defective but wrong in 
many ways, so the conscience will be correspondingly 
injured. 

Morality to be sound and have proper weight 
attached to its requirements must be founded on the 
great laws revealed to us in Scripture, and be in- 
timately connected with the religious sentiments. 
This, however, is very different from attaching it to 
any special form of belief. Religious training and 
knowledge have a most extended and beneficial 
effect upon morality, and to neglect this is to throw 
away one of our most powerful means of influencing 



General Moral and Religious Training. 307 

the child for good, apart from the value of religious 
cultivation for its own sake. Directly the child re- 
cognizes a law as based upon God's will, it will have a 
far deeper effect upon him than any number of mere 
utilitarian considerations. 

Religious training includes, (1) instruction in Scrip- 
ture truth, so as not only to give right ideas of God 
and of our duties to Him, but to couch them in a 
1 form of sound words ' whereby they may readily and 
clearly abide in the mind ; (2) the association of right 
emotions with religious duties, that the child may 
learn to take pleasure in them ; and (3) the expression 
of the child's feelings towards God in worship and 
prayer. To make religious cultivation too much a 
matter of mere knowledge, or of emotional excitement, 
are equally serious mistakes. The first notion which 
the child receives of God must be that of a loving and 
all-powerful Father, ever ready to listen to the poorest 
and smallest of His children, and giving those things 
which He knows in His wisdom to be best for them. 
Love for, trust in, and obedience to the parent must 
be made the base from which we start in our en- 
deavor to arouse similar feelings in the child's mind 
towards God. His attributes may gradually be brought 
under notice in connection with Scripture events. 
God's presence, His omniscience, His wise government 
and loving care of all His creatures, must be so im- 
pressed upon the child that the recognition of them 
may not only influence his actions, but lead to that 
dependence upon God's providence, that restful con- 
fidence in His love and protection, and that conviction 
of His infallible justice, which are the foundation of 
all true happiness. It is not by much talking or 
frequent reiteration of these things that this is to be 



308 Discipline and Moral Training. 

done, but rather by the force of our example, and by 
vividly impressing the child's mind when such subjects 
are brought before him. The dread of an avenging 
judge is not to be held before children ; their natures 
are much too timid and sensitive for this. The religion 
of children should be essentially a cheerful one, its first 
elements reverence and love : to associate abolition of 
all pleasure, a melancholy bearing, or even undue 
gravity, with religious duties is to repel children, and 
engender an impression of weariness and distaste 
which it will be very difficult to get rid of. While, 
however, we make religion as attractive as possible, 
we must not allow it to be so familiarly treated as to 
be confused with secular things : there should be a 
becoming tone in the teaching, no frivolous talk should 
be allowed upon religious subjects, nor must we disgust 
the child by our frequent appeals and exhortations. 
Little by little must be our never-forgotten rule. The 
child's religious nature must be allowed to expand 
naturally and gradually under the sunshine of good in- 
fluences. All forcing or haste will only end in mischief. 

The teacher must be careful not to conduct school 
prayers in a careless mechanical way ; far greater 
good results from children unconsciously imbibing 
the spirit of devotion through the example of others, 
than from any amount of direct teaching alone, neces- 
sary as this is in its own sphere. As they see we 
feel, they are likely to follow. 

Religious instruction in school should be drawn 
almost entirely from Scripture ; such as the great truths 
concerning God's nature and our relationship to Him, 
illustrations of His government and His love, &c, 
Christian duties in connection with Biblical narratives 
and biographies, the nature and value of prayer, and 



General Moral and Religious Training. 309 

the history and teachings of our Lord. Scripture 
characters afford great scope for teaching ; here the 
personal element is present which gives life to the 
truth in the case of children ; they are enabled to 
grasp its meaning and bearings, and derive from the 
consideration guidance in their own practice. A 
common fault of much Scripture teaching is the con- 
finement of it to mere historical facts, and the treat- 
ment of these much as in an ordinary history lesson. 
Unless such teaching has an influence on the chil- 
dren's lives it loses its main value. Practical lessons 
may often be clearly and vividly summed up by a 
suitable text, which should be fixed in the mind as the 
outcome of the teaching — the presentation of the 
result in the form most likely to be useful, and most 
easily remembered. We should not attempt to carry 
our explanations into unsuitable subjects. There are 
many mysteries we ourselves cannot fathom. Upon 
many points we must be content if children obtain 
any true light, and leave it for time and further teach- 
ing to do the rest. Religious instruction should be 
made as attractive and vivid as our skill of present- 
ment will allow. It is not likely to do much good if 
children are driven to it, and therefore it should not 
be made the subject of tasks. 

The teaching should not be disputative ; those 
special interpretations upon which we are not all 
agreed are just those least suitable for children. To 
talk about special dogmas, in order to warn the 
children against such doctrines, is to show them that 
we disagree, and therefore to very seriously weaken 
their faith in the absoluteness of the truths we teach. 
The less we force our differences of opinion upon 
children the better. 



310 Discipline and Moral Training. 



CHAPTER III. 

i 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHILDREN.— SCHOOL 
TACTICS. 

Perhaps no term connected with school work has 
been used in a greater variety of ways than the word 
discipline. Generally speaking we may say, that 
school discipline includes all the various influences 
and combined agencies brought to bear upon the 
child, while under the charge of the teacher, in order 
to induce in him such a state as is most conducive to 
the success of education ; and to so affect him in the 
present, as to mould his character, train him to inde- 
pendence, and leave him strengthened for his future 
career. It thus lays under contribution all means of 
training, and all external arrangements for carrying 
on school work. In a restricted sense it includes the 
law of the school and its administration ; and it is 
this side which we have now more particularly to 
consider. 

The foundation of all good discipline is the 
authority of the teacher — including both his power 
of control and the way in which he applies this 
to the child. To have due weight, authority must 
be recognized almost instinctively by the child, 
not paraded before him for his contemplation. All 
such outward show tends to that familiarity which 



The Government of Children. 311 

breeds contempt, and has much more of weakness in 
it than of strength. Children soon learn what con- 
trolling force we actually possess, and take little heed 
of our assertions and display in the matter. The less 
we talk about what we will do, the wider is the range 
of unforeseen resources left open to us ; and the 
originality of our devices has often great influence in 
itself. We can also better adapt our methods to the 
needs of the moment when unhampered by previous 
declarations. It is a serious mistake ever to let chil- 
dren see the limit of our means ; the more varied 
they are, and the less frequently employed, the more 
effective will they prove ; we should therefore be 
sparing of them. The larger the reserve of power, 
and the more children feel that this is of indefinite 
extent, the less will they be inclined to try conclusions 
with us as to its limit. 

To administer discipline well requires knowledge 
of children, careful observation, keen insight, much 
sympathy, a large stock of patience, and considerable 
experience. It is not, as seems often to be supposed, 
a matter of mere force of character, though this is an 
important factor. Justice in dealing out praise and 
blame, charity in interpreting motives, consistency of 
action, and mercy in punishment, all have much to 
do with the successful exercise of authority. Even 
the appearance of favoritism must be avoided, but 
this must not be confused with the giving of just 
commendation, or with letting children see that we 
are most pleased with those who strive earnestly to 
do their duty. Favoritism is shown more frequently 
in allowing ourselves to be biassed in our estimate of 
conduct or success by our good opinion of some, than 
in bestowing undue privileges and rewards. 



312 Discipline and Moml Training. 

The teacher needs all his skill and discernment to 
discover the child's weak points, to say just the right 
word and do the right thing to rouse him to a sense 
of his position, and to guide him in the right direc- 
tion. Nothing damages authority more than injustice,, 
especially when it arises from deliberate carelessness. 
Rash decision when the teacher is called upon to 
decide a case of dispute, and jumping hastily to a 
conclusion respecting guilt without due examination 
of the circumstances, are certain to seriously weaken 
the confidence of those under his care. He should 
never act as though what the child may feel or think 
were not worth consideration. Any little pleasure 
requested should be granted whenever it can be con- 
ceded without harm to the work. It is mischievous 
to cross children for the sake of accustoming them to> 
opposition. There is a good deal more than is often 
thought in the way we accept little services from 
children ; the sympathy and affection aroused by 
pleasantly and graciously accepting anything children 
do for us is very great, and nothing gives keener pleas- 
ure to them than to be allowed to perform little of- 
fices for us if they see their attentions are appreciated. 

Decision .in the teacher is essential to successful 
management of children. Very frequently measures 
have to be settled almost on the instant, and while 
the teacher is trying to make up his mind mischief is 
perhaps going on and becoming more and more diffi- 
cult to stem. A firm, confident, restrained manner is 
an important element in authority, and is at once 
recognized by children as a mark of power. Weak- 
ness and indecision are great temptations to the child 
to resist control. It is far safer in matters of disci- 
pline to err on the side of strictness than of laxity. A 



The Government of Children. 313 

child likes good discipline, and respects thoroughly 
a wise and decided control. It need never be feared 
that a firm but temperate exercise of authority will 
alienate a child's sympathies ; a weak foolish indul- 
gence, which admits licence in the place of true 
liberty, is much more likely to accomplish this. ' It 
is one of the mysteries of human nature,' says Abbott, 
1 that indulgence never awakens gratitude or love in 
the heart of a child.' Children must be governed, not 
coaxed. Control within proper limits is natural and 
wholesome for them. No amount of imploring them 
to do right will ever accomplish the purpose, and it 
very easily becomes positively harmful. On the other 
hand, restraint must not be carried too far ; we must 
remember it is not the course which is easiest for our- 
selves, but that which is most beneficial to the child, 
which is to be followed. Mere quiet is not good order. 
Allowance must be made for the natural characteristics 
of childhood ; many of their faults are but effects of 
their age which time will cure. To blame a child for 
being active, careless, restless, variable, and apt to 
get into mischief, is to blame him for what he often 
cannot help. To keep these within bounds, without 
destroying his vivacity and light-heartedness, is not 
always easy, but it is the object to be aimed at. 

One of the commonest faults of discipline is the 
want of uniformity in requirement — the absence of 
steady incidence. A spasmodic government, violent 
and weak, rigid and neglectful, by turns, is never 
satisfactory. A child soon learns to calculate chances 
of escape, and if these are considerable a premium 
is at once offered upon disobedience. Certainty of 
detection is a very stronghold for the teacher. 
Threatening does little good ; children have little 



314 Discipline and Moral Training. 

power of realizing in the present either future pleasure 
or future pain, and the threat soon ceases to have any 
effect upon them. 

There is no more important thing to secure in the 
government of children, both for their present and for 
their future good, than a prompt and willing obedience ; 
at first to the authority of the teacher, afterwards to 
the sense of duty. The transition step is a critical 
one. There is great difference between obedience to 
the influence of authority and to mere compulsion. 
A government of sheer force is the lowest and least 
worthy of all ; and the teacher should never rest 
content till he has passed to a higher and better 
stage. It is not a blind abject submission that we 
want, but a cheerful obedience rendered from right 
motives. Children should know exactly what is re- 
quired of them, and be led to act up to the spirit 
rather than the letter of requirements. Many faults 
of omission arise from imperfect understanding, or 
from want of attention. School rules there must be, 
but they should not be so many as to be difficult to bear 
in mind, and should deal with important matters ; the 
more certain and unmistakable they are the better. 
Every extra regulation is an additional burden both to 
the child and to the teacher. Neglected rules are 
much worse than none ; the wiser course, therefore, 
is to consider carefully the necessity and working of 
any new regulation before we promulgate it. 

Commands should be given in a clear firm tone, 
(here should be no hesitation, no doubt as to what is 
meant. It is the impressiveness, the decided ring, which 
produces effect, not the loud tone. The teacher should 
be on his guard against shouting at children; the 
attempt to ' still a noise with one still greater ' only 



The Government of Children. 315 

adds to confusion. Once an order is given so as to be 
distinctly heard, obedience should be waited for and 
insisted upon. Reiteration of commands over and 
over again, with increasing force of voice, is a sure 
sign of weakness, and the child knows it. Much bad 
order results from giving commands one after an- 
other without proper attention to their being carried 
out. Nothing, again, is more certain to induce neglect 
than to set some particular work, or impose certain 
tasks, and never properly examine into the result. 

When our commands refer to cessation from some 
action we must be careful to give a child time. It is 
sometimes impossible for him to turn his nervous 
energy at once into another channel. His not ceasing 
instantly must not be looked upon as intentional op- 
position. Have a little patience, and probably all will 
be well. Habitual tricks are very difficult to restrain. 

Perhaps there is no fault about which serious mis- 
takes are more frequently made than about obstinacy. 
There are several phases of mind which go by this 
name, and the greatest caution must be observed that 
they are not confused. It is sometimes mere deter- 
mination not to be moved from a certain course of 
conduct or form of belief which is supposed to be 
right, but which has been adopted without proper 
consideration. The mind simply shuts itself up, and 
is with great difficulty moved to see things in any 
other light than the chosen one. This is not uncom- 
mon in adults, but is unfrequent in the case of children. 
Enlightenment is what is needed; you cannot con- 
vince a child by punishment. There are also times, 
again, when children seem quite dazed, and no longer 
have their nervous machinery under control ; the 
teacher should be very careful he does not further 



316 Discipline and Moral Training. 

stupefy a child in this state by punishment. There is 
also a constitutional sullenness and heaviness of dis- 
position which is often called obstinacy ; the mind 
easily drops into a state in which it is scarcely enough 
awake to realize the nature of what is required of it ; 
pain seems only to confuse it still more, and increases 
the dogged determination to bear punishment as an 
unavoidable misfortune, without ever awaking to con- 
sciousness that something is to be done. Such cases 
need most skilful treatment ; it is a grievous error to 
enter into combat with such a child ; encouragement 
is far more frequently needed than punishment, and, 
even if the latter seems from a careful judgment to be 
needed as an unpleasant association, the teacher must 
never start with the determination of making such a 
child obey. Lastly, there are the cases where, from 
previous mismanagement, a strong spirit of opposition 
to all control has been set up. Such children are 
perfectly conscious what they are about, and are 
simply determined to make a struggle for the mastery, 
even at the cost of pain to themselves. Here there is 
nothing for the teacher but to accept the contest, if 
forced upon him — it is the height of folly to seek it — 
and to come off victorious. Before any punishment is 
inflicted, however, sufficient time for reflection should 
be given. This will often have a good effect upon the 
child, and will allow the teacher to very carefully 
consider the position of affairs, be certain he has made 
no mistake, and make up his mind exactly what he 
will do. Except in the lowest of schools, and where 
the teacher's weakness is an inducement, such cases 
are rare. 

The trials to the teacher's patience and the sources 
of vexation in school-work are numerous, and par- 



The Government of Children. 317 

ticular care is necessary that they do not affect the 
temper or render him callous. Ill-temper almost 
always means injustice ; it is certain to be strongly 
reflected in the children, and the discipline is weakened 
by their not being able to reckon upon the effects 
of certain actions. If our control is to be strong 
there must be no capriciousness ; the more certainly 
children are able to calculate what the teacher will 
think or do with reference to his judgment of their 
conduct the better. But while passion and ill-temper 
are to be carefully avoided, displeasure within proper 
limits — righteous indignation at evil — is often a useful 
instrument of discipline. It presupposes for its 
successful employment attachment of the child to- 
wards those who govern him ; the more he cares 
for their good opinion the more powerfully does 
displeasure act, and the smaller is the amount of it 
that will serve the purpose. In expressing displeas- 
ure we must be sparing of words, and avoid most care- 
fully getting into a habit of continually rating children 
about all sorts of faults. This blunts a child's feelings, 
renders him callous to reproof, and hardens him 
against any exhortation we may_offer. Scolding and 
weakness generally go together. A teacher finds his 
control slipping away from him, and tries to make it 
up by frequent reprobation : but this only increases the 
evil, and keeps both teacher and pupils in a constant 
simmer of vexation and discontent. We not unfre- 
quently worry children very unnecessarily, and any 
government which produces continual irritation is bad ; 
it will not only act prejudicially on the child's dispo- 
sition, but effectually defeat its own object. A scold- 
ing * nagging' teacher can scarcely be conscious of the 
harm he is doing. We should not apply unpleasant 



3 1 8 Discipline and Moral Training. 

epithets to children, or get into a habit of attributing 
vices to them ; we are very likely to complete thereby 
an only half-formed evil tendency, and to strengthen 
wrong-doing rather than to repress it. A child who 
is continually being called a liar is pretty certain to 
become confirmed in the vice. Unjust and unkind 
words often sting deeply, and rankle in the child's 
mind long after the cause which led to them is for- 
gotten. Sneering and sarcasm should never be used 
with children ; the malevolent feeling accompanying 
them renders them totally unfit instruments for the 
teacher's use. Ill-nature rapidly alienates the sym- 
pathy and affection of children. Even the use of 
ridicule needs caution, and should always be good- 
humored. It is an edged tool which needs skill in 
the handling, and we must not suppose that because 
it is very effectively employed by some it is therefore 
a safe and useful weapon for everybody. 

The practice of making examples, as it is called — 
of holding up some wretched offender for reprobation 
before the whole school — is to be condemned. It is 
cruel, in nearly all cases it hardens the offender, and 
is likely to do more harm than good to the onlookers. 
When public mention is made of a fault, it should be 
severed from connection with the guilty person, and 
spoken of at such a time and in such a way as to 
direct the children's attention, not to the condemna- 
tion of an offender, but of a vice. 

A habit of industry — of regular vigorous work — is 
one of the most beneficial and far-reaching of those 
which come within the scope of school cultivation. 
Its great value arises principally from the importance 
of its immediate results, from its influence on the 
future well-being and prosperity of the individual 



The Government of Children. 319 

from its powerful and salutary action on the school 
discipline, and from the weighty moral effects which 
are mainly the result of the continuity of effort and 
the steady self-control it involves. Every teacher 
knows the value of keeping the children diligently 
at work, and how certainly difficulties and troubles 
arise directly the children are left without employ- 
ment. He who cannot keep children's minds occupied 
with what they are about is not likely to keep good 
order. Idleness is the parent of a long train of evils ; 
restlessness, weariness, mischief, carelessness, and dis- 
content, are only a few of them. An idle child is 
never happy ; absolute inactivity, being entirely 
opposed to his nature, is a serious punishment. 
There is, however, employment and employment. 
We should not dishearten a child by setting too much 
to be done at once. It is a mistake to alarm child- 
ren by the magnitude of the task to be performed ; 
put before them a little at a time, and they will 
astonish themselves by the amount they can get 
through. Where it can be managed, the work should 
be so arranged that any neglect will at once become 
apparent. ' Idle children,' says Miss Edgeworth, ' are 
eternal petitioners,' and we may add frequent grum- 
blers. A grumbling discontented habit is a serious 
source of unhappiness, and its formation should be 
prevented if we would have the child grow under the 
best conditions. 

Many educators, from Salzmann downwards, have 
insisted that the teacher must look to himself if 
children go wrong ; and although he may not be will- 
ing, nor would it be just, to credit himself with all 
their faults, the habit of looking to his own actions and 
mode of treatment first is a useful one. It will be well 



320 Discipline and Moral Training. 

for him to make up his mind that no child is so bad 
but what some way of reform may be found, and that 
if he fails it is that he has not discovered the right 
method. 

If he would have his school discipline satisfactory, 
it is not alone to the most important measures of 
government that he must look, but also to the very 
numerous and often independent matters of detail; 
which all exert their influence for good when attended 
to, and soon show points of weakness if neglected. 
Caution must be exercised that nothing in the 
arrangements and conduct, of the school affords 
opportunities for or inducements to wrong doing. 
It is necessary to discriminate clearly between noise 
of work and noise of play : absolute quiet is un- 
natural, and shows a rigid artificial restraint, rather 
than a wholesome government. The teacher should 
learn to recognize at once from what any noise 
proceeds, he should know whether it ought to be 
modified or suppressed, and act accordingly. There 
must be no idle moments for children strongly inclined 
to activity ; troublesome ones must be kept well in 
view, and care be taken that the mischievous do not 
congregate together attracted by common sympathies. 
The eye must be made to perform its share in the work 
of control, sending many a warning or reproof, and con- 
vincing the pupils of a vigilance that instantly detects 
anything wrong. Little things must be looked to, 
sweeping general measures avoided, the influence of 
the master spirits of the school made the most of, the 
disciplinary value of play recognized, punctuality in- 
sisted upon, and the government so conducted that 
while the general good is the first consideration the 
benefit even of individuals is not overlooked. 



Motives, and the Training of the Will. 321 



CHAPTER IV. 

MOTIVES, AND THE TRAINING OF THE WILL. 

Almost from earliest infancy, as we have seen, 
children begin to recognize certain actions as leading 
to pleasurable or painful results, and feel an inclina- 
tion to performance or avoidance accordingly. As 
the child grows, various phases of these moving 
powers come into play, and serve as stimulants to the 
will or controlling power, in order that through it the 
impulse may be satisfied. When these inducements 
thus consciously influence us, so that we intentionally 
act in order to produce a certain result, we speak of 
them as motives. They receive their character from 
the nature of the result contemplated : thus where the 
intention is bad, as in the gratification of revenge, 
they are bad ; where the end aimed at is in accordance 
with the dictates of morality, they are good ; and 
where the action has no moral significance, they also 
are indifferent. What we intend to accomplish by 
an action is therefore an important element of any 
judgment as to its moral nature and value. All 
children feel some stimulative influences ; but as 
they differ very considerably in this respect — some 
being easily moved by inducements which are quite 
inoperative in the case of others — the thing is to 
discover which incentives act most powerfully and 

Y 



322 Discipline and Moral Training. 

least harmfully, and which among such as will suc- 
cessfully influence the child are the highest and best 
in character. The means employed will vary also 
with the moral progress of the child : it is absurd to 
treat all children alike, or the same child in the same 
way at all times, and a very large proportion of 
failures is certain to result from such an attempt. 
Some of the most hopeless cases met with in school 
are those ' sauntering ' moody children, who seem to 
take no interest in such things as move other children 
— not even in play. 

Much skill is required in inducing the action of 
suitable motives of the lower kind, so that while the 
child is encouraged to present effort he is at the same 
time gradually brought under the dominion of higher 
self-acting influences. The usefulness of the natural 
consequences of action, where these are painful and so 
serve as deterrents, has been pretty fully recognized 
by educators ; but far less stress has been laid upon 
the equally if not more valuable pleasant consequences, 
which naturally result from right action. We must 
be very cautious, in the employment of artificial 
motives with the young, that we do not make so fre- 
quent an appeal to such influences that the children 
cease to act except under stimulation. This excessive 
use of lower motives weakens the will, makes the 
child the slave of external circumstances, and puts 
happiness upon an utterly false basis. The stimulus 
applied must be as exactly proportioned as possible 
to meet the case. Very frequent errors are made in 
this respect, a powerful influence being brought to 
bear when a very simple one would have served. 
We do not need a sledge hammer to drive a small 
nail, and are pretty certain to bruise and spoil the 



Motives, and the Training of the Will. 323 

wood if we employ it. Much power is lost also 
from want of attention to the evil influences which 
surround a child, and which often effectually destroy 
much of the effect of our positive training. These 
opposing forces must be very carefully looked to, 
and their power as far as possible directly neutralized. 
It is really these wrong tendencies which at bottom 
give us all the trouble. 

The following are the principal motives which the 
teacher may usefully bring to bear upon the pupil, 
for the purpose of inducing vigorous action, of keeping 
him to a right course of conduct, and of so habituating 
him to good influences that they may strengthen the 
will and guide it to act in accordance with right in- 
clinations : — 

1. Pleasure arising from active employment, both 
physical and mental — Force of habit. The little child's 
love of activity is one of the earliest aids to educa- 
tion, and properly used may be made to play a 
valuable part in school training. The instinct acts 
strongly, and, if we do not properly direct it, will soon 
run into wrong channels. If we can only so arrange 
the pupil's studies as to keep him suitably and briskly 
employed — giving both body and mind a proper 
share, and varying the mode of exercise directly we 
see he is wearied with what he is about, or that a 
change would be good for him — we have done much 
to make him happy, and create in him that liking for 
work which is one of the first conditions of success. 
Every effort congenial to the child's nature brings its 
pleasure, which gives strong inducement to still further 
exertion, and, as we have seen, not only strengthens 
the habit of concentrating the attention, but is one of 
the most powerful means of impressing the memory. 



324 Discipline and Moral Training. 

With dull lethargic children, to arouse their interest 
in play is generally a step to better things. The 
force of habit in influencing our actions and giving a 
strong tendency in a particular direction, and the 
importance of making use of this in training, have 
been already dwelt upon. 

2. Pleasure arising from simple commendation— 
Praise, approbation, esteem. The feeling of gratifica- 
tion which comes from finding our efforts appreciated 
— and if of sufficient importance made the subject of 
commendation — by others competent to judge of them, 
exerts a strong influence upon nearly all of us, and 
acts still more powerfully in the case of children. 
Not only do they feel the happiness derived from 
approbation, but also that arising from the conscious- 
ness that their conduct is a source of pleasure to those 
above them. The latter is with children often the 
more powerful element of the two. This shows us 
that to be effective our praise must not be the mere 
expression of just approbation which a stranger would 
accord to their actions, but must be accompanied by 
that hearty sympathetic ring and smile of pleasure 
which assure them that we are gratified by their 
endeavors. The use of praise may be made a 
powerful engine for good in the hands of a judicious 
teacher, but he must steer clear, on the one hand, of 
allowing it to degenerate into that indiscriminate 
commendation which soon becomes a serious source 
of harm ; and, on the other, of crippling his resources 
by using it in so niggardly and cold-hearted a manner 
as to discourage children. They are easily damped, 
and when once they feel it is of no use trying to win 
the teacher's cordial appreciation, they take little or no 
interest in their work, and soon begin to give trouble. 



Motives, and the Training of the Will. 325 

The over-use of praise draws off the attention from 
that for which the praise is given — thus disguising the 
true merit of the action — and soon leads children to 
crave for it as an end in itself independent of merit. 
When this state has been induced they greedily 
absorb praise from all sides, lose all discrimination as 
to the kind of commendation offered them, and are 
easily led away into wrong actions by the flattery of 
the vicious who have their own ends to serve. 
Children must be taught that praise is worth having 
only so far as it is deserved, and that the commenda- 
tion of those who are best capable of judging of their 
conduct is that which is most valuable. ' The esteem 
of. the wise is more estimable than the applause of 
the many.' We must also be careful not to spoil the 
effect of a moral action, by giving praise to such an 
extent as to become an equivalent for the self-denial 
exercised. 

It is encouragement which is needed, and in many 
cases it is sufficient to show our appreciation by our 
sympathy and pleasure, and by increased confidence — 
in a word, by our esteem — without any direct expres- 
sion of praise. The language of empty praise or mere 
compliment should never be used with children. The 
character of the child will often considerably modify 
our use of praise ; the timid and hesitating needing 
it much more than those of stronger temperament. 
With those inclined to conceit it should be used very 
sparingly, and in such cases we may direct it princi- 
pally to the encouragement of a more modest bear- 
ing ; but at the same time we must be very careful 
not to disparage or misrepresent their actions. 

3. Gratification arising from permanent marks of 
commendation in connection with the pleasure of posses* 



326 Discipline and Moral Training. 

sion— Objective rewards, prizes, medals, &c. Rewards, 
of the kind here contemplated, differ from praise and 
esteem in that they should be given for more dis- 
tinguished conduct or more sustained effort, should 
from their nature yield more permanent pleasure by 
acting as mementos of past excellence, and should 
serve as continual incitements to still more praise- 
worthy efforts. Their true worth thus depends not 
upon their intrinsic value, but upon the amount of 
effort needed to secure them, the consequent weight 
of commendation they carry with them, and the fact 
that they afford proof which may be produced at any 
time of past merit. When these are the things upon 
which most stress is laid it is not difficult to pass to 
rewards of a higher kind. Where their monetary 
value is almost the sole thing thought of, or they 
serve simply as certificates of ability, or even of the 
possession of a certain amount of information — except 
in so far as this is a measure of voluntary effort — their 
moral worth is very small indeed ; and it is objected 
that in such cases their character is often debased by 
their partaking of the nature of bribes. They appeal 
to the selfish side of our nature, which is generally 
over-developed already. Prizes given for continued 
good conduct are very serviceable — where proper care 
is taken to secure as just an award as the conditions 
of the case admit — since here all have equal chances. 
Those given for one special competitive examination 
are least useful. They generally go to the strong 
who need little encouragement, and pass over those to 
whom they would do most good. They usually affect 
the work of only a very few; the great majority know 
they have no chance, and consequently make little 
effort. The far better plan is to award them on the 



Motives, and the Training of the Will. 327 

results of daily work during a given period ; here there 
is a chance that the patient persevering tortoise may 
outstrip the swifter but more uncertain hare. Or 
again, it is sometimes useful to fix a sufficiently high 
standard and reward all who work up to it. A uni- 
versity degree is thus a reward of the best kind. 

Prizes should be of sufficient value to make them 
wortb preserving, and should clearly set fo-th for 
what purpose they were given. Books are one of the 
best forms, money the worst. Commendatory certifi- 
cates are also a very useful kind of rewards. Every 
competitor should be made aware of the exact con- 
ditions upon which the prize is to be given, and when 
once these have been fixed they should not be altered 
until after the award has been made. Rewards should 
not be distributed in a cold perfunctory manner, but 
in such a way that it may be seen that we are fully 
conscious what we are bestowing, and that our cordial 
commendation goes with them. Beyond a certain 
point the more numerous the prizes are the less bene- 
ficial is their effect. There is always the danger to be 
guarded against of directing children's thoughts to the 
wrong motive, of making them act from love of gain 
instead of from duty ; and when prizes are so frequently 
brought before their attention as to fix this wrong 
tendency, it is difficult to get them to act from 
higher motives. Where, again, a very large number 
of prizes are given at one time they are not felt to 
confer any distinction : what is within almost every- 
body's grasp is not much cared for by any. Prizes 
which have cost little effort give correspondingly little 
pleasure, beyond that of mere possession, and have a 
dangerous tendency to foster conceit. 

The hope of future reward or distinction may be 



328 Discipline and Moral Training. 

made to act over long periods in the case of adults, 
and give such an amount of pleasure by anticipation 
as to considerably lighten labor. But children are 
creatures of the present, and, as we have seen, have 
very little sense of futurity ; hence the contemplation 
of future pleasures makes little impression upon them, 
and soon loses all hold upon their minds. Prizes 
therefore to be of any use as a spur to effort should 
not be placed at a distant period, such as a year, or 
they will have no effect until just before the time for 
awarding them comes round. They are better given 
for effort during a comparatively short period, and 
should be distinctly brought before the children's 
attention when the time commences. Annual distri- 
butions of prizes, it is to be feared, are often used as 
a means rather of pleasing the parents, than of moral 
influence on the conduct and work of the scholars. 

Increased confidence, employment in offices of 
trust, greater independence of action, are all impor- 
tant means of reward, which may be made of great 
service by a skilful teacher ; and if properly used are 
highly valued by children. A point which should al- 
ways be looked to in connection with all kinds of 
rewards is the inculcation of a generous spirit, and 
the avoidance of mean petty jealousies. The latter 
often make up no inconsiderable share of the unhappi- 
ness of life. To learn to take pleasure in the well- 
doing and success of others is a most important and 
beneficial training to the child. 

4, Pleasure arising to children from the approval and 
sympathy of their fellows. — It is often astonishing 
what an amount of trouble, self-denial, and even pain, 
a child will undergo to stand well with his fellows, to 
be thought courageous, generous, or skilful, or to gain 



Motives, and the Training of the Will. 329 

influence with them. The example and views of those 
who are looked up to as leaders in a school, and 
whose opinion is thus valued by the others, is thus of 
great consequence. They practically settle what the 
public opinion among the scholars shall be, and where 
this is distinctly on the side of law and order it is a 
powerful influence for good ; where it is not it acts 
with similar strength for evil. If a child knows that 
a wrong or mean action will at once bring upon him 
the condemnation of his comrades, he is deterred from 
doing it ; while the fact that any very decided act of 
virtue will equally win their applause, adds a strong 
additional incitement to its performance. This sound 
public opinion is an ever-present check upon wrong- 
doing, and acts most powerfully just where the direct 
control of the master is least able to reach. To see a 
school well conducted in the master's absence speaks 
strongly for the wholesomeness of the discipline, and 
for the care with which it has been administered. A 
few children may at times be inclined to break out as 
rebels, and a larger number to occupy the position of 
'armed neutrals', but where the majority are the 
allies of the teacher things are not likely to go far 
wrong. . 

5. Emotions of satisfaction from progress, conquest, 
or successful competition — Emulation, &c. — The feeling 
that he is progressing acts as a strong and useful 
stimulant to a child to make increased effort. Every 
difficulty mastered not only leaves less to be overcome, 
but gives a sense of strength and of pleasure at the 
victory which incites to greater vigor in the next 
attack. Competition, within due bounds, gives anima- 
tion and interest to the work, rouses dormant energy 
and strengthens the resolution, shows a child where 



33° Discipline and Moral Training 

his strength lies and how he stands with respect to 
others, and in most cases tends to decrease conceit. 
It is the teacher's business to utilize all the forces at his 
command, to direct their action into proper channels, 
and to remove any serious discouragements. The 
spirit of emulation, arising out of the struggle of com- 
petition, when properly directed is simply a feeling of 
friendly rivalry, of wish to excel without disparaging 
or injuring others. Emulation is a great spur to 
exertion, and with proper care may be usefully em- 
ployed as an incitement both to moral and intellectual 
effort. Too severe competition is baneful ; it keeps 
the child's attention fixed not upon the value of the 
end aimed at and the effort made, but simply upon 
outdoing others ; it is very likely either to strain those 
who are anxious but not strong, or to effectually 
discourage them ; and it encourages those evils which 
have led to the condemnation of emulation, viz., 
jealousy, dislike, and uncharitableness. It is foolish, 
however, to throw away the use of emulation because 
it may be abused. It is a natural feeling and is certain 
to act where numbers are trained together ; the wiser 
plan is to take it in hand and turn it to good uses. 
' A cook might as well resolve to make bread without 
fermentation,' remarks Wood, 'as a pedagogue to carry 
on a school without emulation.' It rarely needs foster- 
ing, more often restraining within healthy limits. The 
important point is to direct its action so as to encourage 
the proper kind of effort ; it should not be a mere 
rivalry for places or prizes, but anxiety to excel in 
well-doing, and children may be led to feel its in- 
fluence in reference to outstripping their own previous 
achievements as well as in the wish to outvie others. 
6. The recognition of moral obligation; pleasure 



Motives, and the Training of the Will. 331 

arising from right action. Sense of duty ; sense of worthi- 
ness. — ' Sense of duty ' is a convenient expression in- 
cluding the recognition of various obligations as wide 
in range as action itself. It is a short formula covering 
a great variety of cases. When, again, an action is 
performed on account of the recognition of it as a duty, 
there follows naturally an emotion of pleasure at 
having done that which is right, proportionate to the 
value of the act itself. Associated with duty there are 
thus two motives, naturally coupled together, but dis- 
tinct in character : viz., the feeling of moral obligation, 
and the sense of worthiness arising from virtuous 
action. These are often spoken of under one common 
term. Sense of duty is altogether too comprehensive 
and abstract to be at first anything more than a mere 
name to the child ; appeal to it as a motive can only 
be of any use in proportion to the child's understanding 
and moral advancement. Before anything else can 
be done he must learn what is meant by duty, and 
this is at first nothing but the recognition that he ought 
to do a thing because it is the will of another i who is 
better able to judge than himself. By and by he 
comes to recognize that the decision of those over him 
as to what ought to be done is not arbitrary, but is 
based on certain considerations that they themselves 
obey ; and by learning gradually why his elders act 
he comes in the end to discern why he should act 
himself. Seeing others do things, often at pain or 
inconvenience to themselves, because they feel it their 
duty, is an important means of enlightenment to the 
child ; especially if suitable occasions are seized to 
make clear to him, as far as he is able to bear them, 
the reasons which led to such a course of conduct. 
Hence association comes very powerfully into play 



332 Discipline and Moral Training. 

in determining the child's progress. It is by means 
of the combination of instruction and contemplation 
of action, aided by the action of the conscience, and 
followed by exercise in accordance with the teaching 
thus given, that nearly all the earlier training to act 
from a sense of duty must take place. Thus the 
obligation arising from the will of the parent or 
teacher must be very gradually transferred to law, as 
a thing binding upon the child independently of their 
wishes, though in accordance with them ; the will of 
that Heavenly Father, whom he has learned to know 
dimly, being pointed out to him as the source of all 
law, and the more important phases of it necessary to 
our existence and happiness being gradually made 
clear to him. 

When the child has learned to recognize what duty 
is, and that its essence lies not in assent but in obliga- 
tion to act, direct instruction may be given respecting 
duties he has not yet been called upon to perform, but 
which his past experience enables him to understand. 
He must be shown that we have duties to perform 
to ourselves, to others, and to God. The instruction 
must not be a mere catalogue of things the child must 
do, given either by books or by oral instruction, but 
each duty must be explained and applied so as to 
meet his daily requirements, and must be illustrated by 
the life he sees around him, until he obtains clear ideas 
of what is becoming, right, and honorable. Steady 
adherence to right and a high sense of honor are 
ever to be put forward as the characteristics of crue 
manliness. As he comes more and more to act in ac- 
cordance with what his conscience and his knowledge 
tell him to be right, the pleasurable accompaniment 
arising from the fulfilment of duty increases in like 



Motives, and the Training of the Will. 333 

degree, and gives an additional incentive to right con- 
duct. In such degree, therefore, as the feeling of duty- 
is developed in the child's mind, to such an extent 
will it be valuable to appeal to it ; and within these 
limits every such appeal will strengthen its action as 
a motive. When this highest and best of motives will 
serve our turn, it is a mistake to make use of lower 
ones ; but even the best of us fail often to be moved 
by it, and in the case of children too much reliance 
must not be placed upon it alone, beyond its proved 
strength. It must be remembered that with them the 
personal element in authority is scarcely ever entirely 
absent. Where the sense of duty cannot be expected 
to act, it is better not to appeal to it at all, but to use 
other means ; and where its employment is of doubtful 
effectiveness its action should be supplemented by 
motives of a lower kind. The best motive which the 
circumstances will admit of is the one to which appeal 
should be made ; and the lower ones should be so 
used as to lead gradually up to those of higher 
character. We must be content with small things at 
first ; to get a child to act from principle at all, 
even if of low character, is a great point gained. 
Motives will often need to be varied in order to 
suit diversities of character, circumstances, and the 
nature of the action required. What may be useful 
as a spur to intellectual exertion, may be inoperative 
in the case of moral effort. The standard of duty 
exacted should never be so high as to dishearten 
children, or strike them as altogether imaginary, and 
they should be encouraged by being shown that duty 
not only leads to the commendation of all right- 
thinking men, but that it has God's approval also and 
is the foundation of all real happiness. 



334 Discipline and Moral Training. 

The will is the power by means of which we exert 
control over our physical and mental action, the 
directing agency whereby we govern both our thoughts 
and conduct. It thus includes a purposive determi- 
nation, and the ability to carry this out by steady 
effort in spite of opposing tendencies. It sets the 
human powers in motion in all cases where they do 
not act automatically, and changes their mode of 
working to suit the varying conditions of performance, 
or stops their operation altogether when required. It 
acts largely through the attention, by powerfully 
directing the mind to what should be done, and by 
withdrawing its contemplation from any inducements 
which may act in opposition. This is another reason 
for the careful training of the attention, which has 
such a beneficial influence in many different ways. 
The will does not create energy, but brings such as we 
possess into play, renders it subservient to our needs, 
and, where properly employed, directs it into such 
channels as will tend most to our general well-being. 
Without the power to determine upon our conduct, 
and to carry out such determination, freedom of 
action would vanish ; and we should sink to the level 
of mere pieces of mechanism, controlled entirely by 
circumstances. 

The will is stimulated to activity by certain 
incitements or motives of various kinds and power ; 
the feebler it is, and the more desultory its action, 
the less likely is it to be stirred by internal impulses, 
and the more necessary external influences become. 
In children the energy of the will is very small, and 
it needs therefore to be aroused and strengthened 
by suitable exercise induced by motives brought to 
bear upon it from without. The capability of high 



Motives, and the Training of the Will. 335 

intellectual or moral action is useless unless we have 
the power to voluntarily put it in force and direct its 
working, and the training of the will is therefore a 
matter of the utmost concern to the teacher, if he 
would lead the child to act freely, vigorously, and 
well, for himself. ' The education of the will,' remarks 
Mr. Morell, ' is really of far greater importance, as 
shaping the destiny of the individual, than that of 
the intellect.' It has to be trained in such a way as 
to act in response to the best motives, to lead to 
ready self-control of the intellect and the conduct, 
to heighten moral courage in the attack of difficulties, 
to give steadiness of purpose in spite of opposing 
forces and temptations, and to prevent that vacil- 
lating weakness which allows the individual to be 
swayed hither and thither by every impulse which 
arises. To properly discipline the will, and strengthen 
its connection with the reason and the conscience, is 
far from an easy task, and will need all our care, 
especially with respect to the motives we present, 
the guidance we afford, and the amount of freedom 
we allow. We have to so cultivate it that it may 
take the place of external control ; and as its 
power increases this should be in like measure with- 
drawn. Where blind obedience to authority is all 
that is looked for, and this is continued long after it 
should have been relaxed, no wholesome growth of 
self-control can take place ; and thus it is that those 
accustomed to severity and undue restraint rarely 
turn out well when they come to act for themselves. 
Either they are broken-spirited, which is a thing to 
be dreaded, or having come to loathe control without 
having learned to regulate their own conduct, they 
rush into all sorts of excesses directly the pressure is 



336 Discipline and Moral Training. 

withdrawn. Thb difficulties of educating the will are 
especially great in schools, where we have to train 
numbers together, inasmuch as the very varied 
treatment necessary to anything like complete suc- 
cess can only be given in a considerably limited 
degree. We have to be content to adopt the best 
general measures we can devise, with individual 
applications wherever opportunities offer. Children 
should be strongly encouraged to adhere decidedly 
to that which they know to be right, accustomed to 
steady perseverance in effort, taught as far as may 
be to weigh well the consequences of what they are 
about to do, and led to control their impatience and 
temper ; while such motives as they are capable of 
feeling should be brought in by the teacher in aid of 
their will, where its power is in danger of giving way, or 
where support would serve a useful purpose. Intensity 
of emotion must not be mistaken for strength of will ; 
passion may be of such power as to completely swamp 
the will and carry us away in spite of ourselves. 
Sudden outbursts of this kind show weakness of will, 
not strength ; and the child must be led to curb the 
exhibition of his feelings within reasonable limits. 
Nor must obstinacy be confused with strength of 
will ; if the result of will at all, it in all probability 
means that the general power of self-control has been 
weakened by the direction of nearly all force of will 
into a wrong channel. It is the power of using the 
will in all useful directions, so as to give control over 
the body, the emotions, the intellect, and the conduct, 
which we have to cultivate ; and it should not be for- 
gotten that it may be developed in some directions 
only, and seriously neglected or misdirected in others. 
An individual may be able to control his intellectual 



Motives, and the Traini?ig of the Will. 337 

operations with ease and certainty, and have scarcely 
any moral self-government ; while, on the other hand, 
he may have great moral strength, and be quite 
unable to control his thoughts and attention, or the 
exhibition of his emotions. The usefulness and 
value of the will thus depends not upon its actual 
strength, but also upon the directions which are 
habitually given to its working. Habit and will act 
and react upon each other, and whether the will has 
been accustomed to be roused by good influences or 
bad often determines whether its control shall lead 
to right conduct or to evil. ' The highest exercise of 
-willy says Dr. Carpenter, 'is shown in those who are- 
endowed with vigorous intellectual powers, and whose 
strong emotional nature gives force to all their 
tendencies to action, but who determinately fix their 
attention on the divine ideal, and steadily endeavor 
to shape their character and direct their conduct in 
accordance with it. This is not to be effected by 
dwelling exclusively on any one set of motives, or 
by endeavoring to repress the energy which is in 
itself healthful. Even the idea of duty, operating 
alone, tends to reduce the individual to the subservience 
of a slave doing his master's bidding, rather than to 
make him master of himself; but it gives most 
powerful aid in the acquirement of that power of 
fixing the thoughts and affections on " things on 
high," which more effectively detaches them from 
what is earthly and debasing. It is by the assimila- 
tion, rather than by the subjugation, of the human will 
to the divine that man is really lifted towards God' 



338 Discipline and Moral Training. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE NATURE AND USES OF PUNISHMENT. 

Few things in school work are of such weight and 
importance, few are so beset with difficulties, as the 
clear appreciation of the province and uses of punish- 
ment and its proper administration. To use punish- 
ment in such a way as to conduce in the highest 
degree to the welfare of the individual pupil and the 
benefit of the general body, to render it effective in 
removing such obstacles to the ordinary work as fall 
within its scope, and at the same time to avoid 
allowing its administration to become so burdensome 
as to use up an altogether undue share of time and 
attention, will need -all the wisdom, patience, skill, 
resource, and experience, which the teacher can bring 
to bear upon the work. 

Laws and regulations are useless unless they are 
supported by some means of enforcing obedience, where 
they are wilfully or carelessly disregarded ; hence, 
when persuasive measures and better motives fail to 
secure conformity, punishment of some kind, sufficient 
in degree to effect the purpose, must step in. What- 
ever moral suasion may accomplish in the domestic 
circle it is certainly insufficient alone to serve the pur- 
poses of school discipline. To try and coax children 
into right-doing without firm measures of control and 



The Nature and Uses of Punishment. 339 

proper assertion of authority, where these become 
necessary, is to prevent the growth of that wholesome 
respect to law and that recognition of the urgency and 
importance of acting in accordance with the dictates of 
duty, which are so essential to any training worthy of 
the name ; to fail, in the vast majority of instances, in 
giving any real power of self-government ; and to waste 
a large amount of time and strength without any ade- 
quate result. Where such persuasive inducements as 
can be wholesomely brought to bear upon the child will 
serve our turn, punishment must not be employed ; 
and where a small degree of punishment will answer, 
a large amount is mischievous in proportion to the 
excess. Strong measures are valuable only when 
weaker ones have been tried and failed. There is much 
truth in a remark of Dr. Bell's, that ' a maximum of 
improvement cannot be obtained without a minimum 
of punishment.' To use one form of punishment for 
all cases, or the same degree with all children, is 
absurd : such a course increases the chance of failure 
or injury, and decreases the range of usefulness. 

To be thoroughly effective punishments must be 
prompt, administered in earnest, clearly understood, 
proportioned to the degree of offence, suited to the 
character of the child, and in keeping with the nature 
of the fault. They should be given seriously, so as to 
be impressive ; should be sufficiently strong to produce 
the required effect ; and should serve both for cor- 
rection and monition. When they are too mild they 
are treated with covert contempt, and when too severe 
are liable to break the child's spirit and almost 
certain to act prejudicially on his disposition. Sham 
punishments are as ridiculous as they are harmful. 
It is not the severity of the punishments inflicted 



340 Discipline and Moral Training. 

which has most effect, but their certainty and con- 
sistency, and the recognition of their justice. Severity 
may produce outward conformity whilst the most 
rebellious spirit exists beneath, and the child be less 
inclined than ever to act rightly of his own accord. 
That punishments should be so graduated as to accord 
with a natural scale of blameworthiness is of great 
moral importance. An absolute amount of punishment 
for a given fault should rarely or never be laid down ; 
as in such a case, injustice will certainly be done to 
some. The same punishment will be a cruel excess 
applied to some children, which with others would be 
useless to accomplish the end aimed at. The teacher 
should leave himself as much discretionary power as 
possible, so that he may be guided by the needs of 
the case : the moral condition of the offender, the 
nature of the motives which urged him, the strength 
of temptation, and the extent of his contrition, must 
all have due weight if the punishment is to lead to the 
most wholesome and lasting reform. There is always 
danger that we may be led to measure the child's 
culpability by the amount of our annoyance or 
vexation, and not by the gravity of the offence. Our 
personal likes and dislikes, or any feeling which is 
likely to mar the justice of our award, must be care- 
fully eliminated from the question. In investigating a 
case we must not proceed as though we were anxious 
to convict the child, but rather so as to. show we 
should be glad if his innocence could be established. 
Nor must we allow ourselves to judge children by the 
standard we should apply to adults ; much allowance 
must be made for their weakness and want of ex- 
perience, and we shall be more likely to act in the 
most beneficial way if we carefully search for the 



The Nature and Uses of Punishment, 341 

source of the fault," and apply the remedy if possible 
there. It is scarcely necessary to say that wrong- 
doing or shortcoming from ignorance of what should 
be done, from accident, or from inability to perform 
what is required, needs very different measures from 
punishment. 'One ought to correct the bad that he 
may become better,' says Plato, 'but not the unfor- 
tunate.' We should not threaten to punish all who 
have not done a given amount of work in a set time. 
Either the requirement will be so low that the 
cleverer children do the work in much less than the 
stated time, rest content with this, and have time on 
their hands for mischief ; or, if we arrange matters to 
suit the average children, the dullest and most back- 
ward are pretty certain of punishment, even after 
making far greater effort than those who escape. 
Such a proceeding assumes an equality of ability and 
of power of performance which does not exist. 

Punishment does no good unless the child cleaidy 
understands why he is punished, and it will be helpful 
to him also to let him see how far any extenuating 
circumstances have weighed with us, and what he 
may expect in the future. The latter should not be 
put forward as a threat, but as information which 
will enable him to estimate more justly the position 
in which he stands. The important thing in all 
punishment is to arouse aversion to the fault, to get 
the child to recognize his culpability, and to feel such 
sorrow for his bad conduct as will make him strive 
not to fall in the same way again. It is not punish- 
ment alone that must be trusted to, but this in con- 
nection with other influences of a higher kind which 
may be made to lend their assistance. The teacher 
has not to punish the child in order to compel him to 



34 2 Discipline and Moral Training. 

do good, but to prevent his following the bad. Compul- 
sory goodness is of no value, hence it is to the deterrent 
effect of punishment rather than the stimulative one 
we must look. In such a case as idleness, for instance, 
it may be necessary to punish for the neglect, but as 
a stimulus to voluntary industry this will not have 
much, if any, moral effect. It is self-effort, not com- 
pulsory action, we want to induce. A child who is 
simply flogged into being industrious will never by 
that means be made diligent in character, probably 
the reverse from the dislike engendered. Punishment 
acts by making a child choose the less of what 
appear to him as two evils ; he must either sink his 
own inclination and forego temptation, or suffer the 
consequences. But this selective action between evils 
is a very different thing from the wish to do right 
The latter is not given by punishment, but must be 
developed by quite other means. Without the im- 
planting of good motives the compulsory withdrawal 
of bad ones is useless as a means of moral growth. 
Punishment, when it acts properly, serves to remove 
obstacles and so give the better influences room and 
opportunity to act ; it is therefore an important, but 
can never be the most important, part of any dis- 
ciplinary training. Sympathy, instruction, habit, ex- 
ample, and good motives will all have their share in 
the work. A kind encouraging word or two after 
punishment will often not only assure the child we 
bear no malice, but will do much to make him resolve 
upon amendment. Directly a child shows any 
anxiety to improve he should receive every en- 
couragement, and we should be particularly cautious 
not to remind him at every step of his past offences. 
' How careful should we be,' says Miss Edgeworth, 



The Nature and Uses of Punishment. 343 

'never to chain children to their dead faults.' To 
act as though we cared nothing about the child's 
improvement, or considered him incorrigible and not 
worthy of further sympathy, is pretty sure to make 
him what he sees we think him. He must always 
feel his efforts at amendment will be appreciated, and 
that the way is open for him to reinstate himself in 
our good graces. 

// is a great mistake to view punishment, in the 
case of children, in the light of vengeance of the law, or 
as expiation of guilt. It should never be forgotten that 
the far greater number of a child's offences are against 
his own good, and not injuries to others. The function 
of the teacher as a judge and administrator of law 
has been made too much of. His work is very much 
more that of a physician, a missionary, or a reformer. 
He has not to avenge, but to cure ; and must use his 
heart as well as his head. To put on the stern, un- 
bending face of a judge dealing with a criminal, and 
to administer justice in the cold passionless way some 
would have him, would be to completely mistake his 
office. In the vast majority of instances school 
punishment is only justifiable as a measure of guidance 
and reform ; and it must be administered in such a 
way as to show that the teacher regards it in this 
light. We must be cautious, also, not to extend the 
remedies necessary in the case of a few morbidly 
depraved and neglected children to the general body 
who need quite different treatment. The needs of 
the few must not be allowed to control our actions 
over the many, and lead us to treat the average 
and better-disposed child in a way suitable for the 
reclamation of hardened offenders. 

The more closely the action and the consequence 



344 Discipline and Moral Training. 

are associated, the more strongly will the latter act 
as a deterrent. Hence although it is well, especially 
in any serious case, to let some little time elapse 
between the commission of the fault and the punish- 
ment, in order that the child may recognize his posi- 
tion and calm down from any passionate excitement, 
the delay must not be too great — a few hours at 
most. As the hope of reward affects the child very 
little unless the reward be near at hand, so, as pre- 
viously remarked, threats of even heavy punishments 
have little effect where the prospect of having to suf- 
fer them seems to the child remote. 

From Rousseau down to Mr. Herbert Spencer 
the importance of the discipline of consequences, of 
the 'inevitable reactions' following the commission 
of faults, has been often insisted upon. The influences 
arising from such reactions are very valuable as far 
as they go, but they cover but a very small part of 
the necessities of school discipline. They are cer- 
tain, and the bond of association between fault and 
punishment is clearly evident ; but they partake too 
much of the nature of fate (punishing inadvertences 
to the same extent as deliberate misconduct, and mak- 
ing no allowance for extenuating circumstances) for 
the teacher to attempt to bring his own measures into 
conformity with them. 

Punishments often lose more than half their valne 
when administered in a careless and indifferent 
manner. In such a case the teacher appears con- 
cerned only about the past fault, not about the future 
influence. They seem to the child more like the in- 
flictions of a careless stranger than of an anxious 
sympathizing friend. Much has been said and written 
about the teacher being always calm and judicial and 



The Nature and Uses of Punishment. 345 

never giving way to anger. So far as this means 
that the teacher should never display ill-tempered 
irritability, or be guilty of an outburst of passion, the 
remarks are just ; but there seems no reason why the 
teacher should act unnaturally and hide that righteous 
anger at deliberate or gross misdoing, which, kept 
under proper control so as not to warp our judgment 
or lead to animosity against the child, is in its place — 
as Dr. Priestley long ago pointed out — a valuable 
influence, and often gives much increased force to 
punishment. It seems perfectly natural to the child 
that we should be angry at wrong-doing ; and if com- 
pletely dissociated from bad temper, such anger may be 
made to have a wholesome effect upon the child and 
often save the necessity of severer measures. Where 
such placidity of temperament exists that anger is 
scarcely ever shown, an expression of genuine pleasure 
or interest will probably be as rare. The teacher should 
be essentially human and not automaton-like, either 
in administering punishment, or in anything else. 
Children know nothing of abstract laws, and the 
younger they are the more necessary the personal 
element is. We only confuse children by trying to 
divest duty of its proper background, and we must 
be extremely cautious how far we withdraw the 
accompanying wish or will of another from the laws 
enjoined upon the child. As before observed, the 
transition from personal considerations to abstract 
conditions of law is a critical one ; even in its princi- 
pal features it is the work of years, and cannot rightly 
be viewed as ever quite complete. 

Punishments vary very greatly in suitability, in 
the ease with which they may be modified, in the 
nature of their influence, and in promptness of effects 



2,4-6 Discipline and Moral Training. 

It is a consideration of much moment to the 
teacher which of the various means at his disposal 
should be employed in any particular case. The 
principal kinds in common use are censure, disgrace, 
deprivation of play or occupation, compulsory silence, 
prohibition of companionship of fellows, solitary con- 
finement, tasks, the rod, and expulsion. Each of 
these may, under certain circumstances, be a source 
of mischief, and each, employed under proper con- 
ditions, may be made of essential service. Some 
children feel one kind strongly, some another. The 
more acutely they feel any kind of punishment the 
better, as then a correspondingly small amount may 
be used with success. More than is just sufficient to 
accomplish our purpose should never be employed. 
If we get into a habit of using heavy punishments 
children harden to them, and they are no more 
effective in ordinary cases than lighter ones, while 
the evil is much increased. 

In nearly all discussions about punishment we 
proceed far too much on merely theoretical grounds. 
If we took the trouble to observe children carefully, 
or even to go back to our own childhood's experiences 
and those of our school-fellows, we should often be 
able to correct our theories, and save ourselves the 
shame and evil of blundering in practice. Every 
teacher knows that numerous defects in punishments 
exist which are little dwelt upon by theorists, and 
that many of the evils which are made so much of, and 
of which such gloomy pictures are drawn, are in the 
great majority of instances inoperative. The effects 
of gross abuses have too often been imputed to proper 
and moderate administration. Much will depend upon 
the character and skill of the teacher as to what the 



The Nature and Uses of Punishment. 347 

effect will be. What will answer with one teacher or 
mode of administration will fail with another. Each 
must make trial for himself, and employ those forms 
of correction which with him prove least harmful and 
most effective. In case of bad management any 
punishment may lead to evil results, and none will 
suit all circumstances. 

Probably no kind of punishment has ever been 
employed which has not been condemned by one 
writer or another from particular points of view : but 
because the application of a certain mode of correction 
may be productive of mischief in particular instances, 
there is no reason for abandoning it, when needed, in 
cases where it maybe usefully and properly employed. 
To abandon all punishments which may be abused 
would leave us absolutely without help. It only 
shows, what every experienced teacher will admit, 
that no punishment should be blindly used, but that 
all need judgment and care in application ; and that 
the more liable any form of punishment is to misuse, 
and the graver the results of such error, the greater 
should be the caution exercised in its use, and the 
less it should be employed where any safer method 
will serve. 

Compulsory silence, and exclusion from companion- 
ship, are sometimes useful punishments for such 
offences as lying, bad language, passionate out- 
bursts of temper, bullying, &c. Against idleness, 
carelessness in work, and milder faults, deprivation of 
play will often serve ; as will also in some cases the 
homcepathic-like remedy, suggested by Locke, of 
enforced inactivity. What is frequently styled idle- 
ness in school is simply wrong occupation — the 
diversion of the attention to matters of amusement 



348 Discipline and Moral Training. 

instead of proper work; laziness and inertness are 
much rarer faults in children. This should be borne 
in mind in deciding upon measures of treatment. It 
is worse than useless to keep children in during play- 
time, or after school hours, without some one in 
authority to look after them ; setting them work to 
do without this only partially meets the case. The 
punishment is more effective where they are separated 
from each other and kept perfectly inactive. Solitary 
confinement is a much heavier punishment than mere 
'keeping in' as one of a number, and should be 
reserved for graver offences. It is least successful 
with sullen dogged tempers. 

Censure, which has been already spoken of, may be 
graduated with great nicety, and if dealt out impres- 
sively and justly, will often be sufficient for minor 
faults ; or it may be associated in varying degrees 
with other punishments, as disgrace. Its value de- 
pends much upon the character of the teacher. 

Shame acts powerfully on some natures ; it should 
be associated with moral offences, not such faults as 
restlessness, inattention, or misplaced talking. Cau- 
tion must be exercised in linking it with action that 
the association is a proper one; false or misplaced 
shame is an evil. It has most influence in cases where 
the sense of honor exists, but has no effect upon hard- 
ened offenders, and soon loses its power if appealed to 
very frequently. It very rarely acts with a large 
body of delinquents as they keep one another in 
countenance. 

Book tasks are often very strongly condemned by 
educational writers, but it is very doubtful whether, 
when used with moderation, the evils with which they 
are credited are not more imaginary than real in the 



The Nature mid Uses of Punishment. 349 

great majority of cases. Let the teacher watch for 
himself with great care the influence of book tasks 
upon children, and it is probable that when he has 
observed a wide range of cases he will scarcely be 
inclined to concur in their wholesale condemnation. 
He may find individual cases where their influence 
has not been a good one, but where a liking for books 
has been given by the teaching ; an occasional task 
will not be found to affect this liking at all seriously. 
The habit of watching experiments in this way cannot 
be too strongly recommended to teachers. If more 
general, and the results were made known, many 
points of theory which seem very strong would prob- 
ably soon become considerably modified. There is 
still very much to be learned about the work of the 
teacher, and thoroughly trustworthy results can only 
be arrived at by the proper combination of theory 
and observation. 

Expulsion is a strong measure only to be resorted 
to in extremity. It is a confession of failure on the 
part of the teacher, and an assertion that the depravity 
of the child is such that no means at disposal are 
sufficient to control him, and that consequently he is 
an unfit associate for other children. What is to 
become of such a one ? Cases of children deserving 
expulsion, except among the most depraved classes, 
are rare. It would be better to hold consultation 
with the parents before adopting such a course ; and 
where it becomes necessary, the child should be ex- 
pelled with the managers' concurrence, not from any 
question of the master's power or right to expel, but 
as a matter of expediency. 

Corporal punishment has probably led to more 
discussion and to more violently antagonistic opinions 



350 Discipline and Moral Training. 

than any other means of correction employed in 
school. The term has come almost universally to be 
employed as a synonym for 'flogging' ; though there 
seems no reason why it should not include all the 
punishments which depend upon pain of body, such as 
the far more objectionable ones of making children 
support weights, keeping them without food, compel- 
ling them to kneel on sharp objects, goading them with 
sharp points, &c; and some of these, be it remembered, 
have often been employed where corporal punishment 
has been supposed to have been given up. Thus 
Wood mentions that, in his time, although the rod 
had been expelled from the public schools of France, 
yet not only boys but delicate young ladies were every 
day compelled to rest on their knees for a very con- 
siderable time on a floor. Instances of boasted aban- 
donment in our own country could be quoted, where 
simply other forms of giving bodily pain have been 
substituted for the rod. If we are to abandon cor- 
poral punishment, it must be by ceasing to employ 
bodily pain at all y and not by keeping the letter to 
break the spirit of the rule in this miserable fashion. 
It is of the highest consequence that we should clearly 
realize the grounds upon which this discipline of pain 
rests; and to be satisfactory our knowledge of its 
results must be based upon something deeper than 
mere sentimental or theoretical opinions. 

Pain consumes an amount of nervous energy pro- 
portionate to its intensity and duration, and thus un- 
doubtedly tends to weaken nervous action — to sub- 
tract a portion of that force which we have to employ 
in education. It is in itself non-productive. Every 
action performed on account of the stimulus of pain 
is performed in a very wasteful and expe7isive way, 



The Nattire and Uses of Punishment. 351 

and to the extent of the waste takes away from the 
future store of energy for the sake of securing present 
requirements. Pain artificially induced is in its nature 
an evil, and where largely employed may be a serious 
one, apart from any ulterior effects on the disposition. 
The more clearly we recognize this, the more likely 
shall we be to arrive at a just decision respecting its 
use. 

Where the future good overbalances the present 
loss, it will be necessary to make the sacrifice, unless 
some more economical and equally effectual means 
can be discovered : as in the case of disease it is often 
necessary to employ medicines which weaken before 
the conditions of future strength can be arrived at ; 
or as destruction by cauterization is sometimes neces- 
sary before healthy tissue can grow. The strength, 
or the new tissues, cannot be given by the medical 
remedy, but must be provided by other means. We 
should therefore regard a state needing corporal pun- 
ishment as a diseased one, and when we apply such 
means to root out vice or suppress an evil habit, we 
must remember that voluntary right action must be se- 
cured by other measures, for this the punishment will 
not supply. And, just as the bodily strength cannot 
be lowered beyond a certain point without great risk, 
and if it is, this may prove as fatal as the disease ; so 
there is a point, dependent upon the state of the indi- 
vidual, beyond which corporal punishment must in no 
case go, or the remedy becomes worse than the evil it 
is intended to cure. It is a grave error to consider ner- 
vous force as inexhaustible ; it is quite possible to flog 
a child until he cannot obey ; and it must always be a 
question with us whether the amount of force required 
can be spared without injury. Corporal punishment is 



352 Discipline and Moral Training. 

thus clearly unsuited to children of highly emotional 
tendency and weakly habit of body ; and to employ 
it with a tenderly nurtured child open to better in- 
fluences is cruel. 

With respect to the effects of corporal punishment 
upon the disposition, many factors have to be taken 
into account. Those persons who have most carefully 
watched its effects will probably concur that where 
used with skill and discretion by a sympathetic teacher, 
and care is taken to neutralize its side tendencies by 
other good influences, there is little or no cause to fear 
any evil results. There is something radically wrong 
besides the mere use of corporal punishment wherever 
the long train of evils laid to its charge are ever 
realized in practice. 

Where pain is inflicted without the child recogniz- 
ing fully the reason for the infliction, he is restive under 
it; if to this is added the feeling of injustice, dislike of 
the teacher follows, which may at last deepen into 
hatred. Frequent pain has a tendency to render us irri- 
table, and in the end sour our disposition. This ten- 
dency acts still more with children than in the case of 
adults, though the elasticity of the child's nature serves 
in some respects as a counterbalance ; and if the pain 
is severe as well as frequent, it may so warp their 
natures as to embitter their future existence. Corporal 
punishment, therefore, should not be frequent on ac* 
count of its weakening effect, its injurious influence on 
the temper when so employed, and, further, the fact 
that children then become hardened to bearing it and 
a larger and larger amount is required. Used to such 
an extent as to produce the fear and trembling of 
slaves it is highly mischievous. 

Moral offences of a grave character, deliberate 



The Nature and Uses of Punishment. 353 

and continued neglect of admonition, or rebellion, 
may be justly treated by corporal punishment ; 
and it is 'sometimes necessary to give a physical 
check of this kind, as a counterpoise to wrong pro- 
pensities or long-established habits, as a means of 
arousing the pupil from that dreamy irresolution 
which is frequently the greatest obstacle to reforma- 
tion/ 

If we know ourselves that we are acting from 
right motives, with the intention of being strictly just, 
and that there is no passion or the slightest trace 
of vindictiveness in our administrations of corporal 
punishment, we need not fear but that the children 
will in the end recognize its justice. They are 
wonderfully acute in this respect ; they detect almost 
instantly in what spirit punishment is administered, 
and their feelings towards the administrator, and the 
good effects of the application vary accordingly. If 
its justice is not clearly recognized it cannot be ex- 
pected to have any good moral effect. Children 
must be made to feel that the teacher dislikes its use — 
that it is to him an unpleasant necessity, which their 
good behavior could do much to remove. We have 
seen that punishment, if it is to be viewed as just, must 
be uniform for the same amount of wrong doing — the 
same standard of punishment must be maintained ; 
and this is impossible where several teachers are 
allowed to administer corporal punishment in the same 
school. There are sure in such a case to be consider- 
able discrepancies, and the boys will institute injurious 
comparisons, even if those who use it are sufficiently 
experienced to do so wisely. The head teacher, as 
the most fitting and responsible person, and the one 
whose administration is most likely to be respected, 

A A 



354 Discipline and Moral Training. 

should always reserve the use of corporal punishment 
to himself. 

If we punish a child when he is in a passion, he is 
not likely to feel the justice of the application, and 
such a proceeding is a common source of those con- 
tests for the mastery, which should be carefully 
avoided, unless forced upon us by the behavior of 
the child himself. In such contests we must be very 
cautious to remember the limits beyond which 
corporal punishment should not go. If after a severe 
administration the child is still obdurate, we should 
not continue flogging him, for we may reach the limit 
and have to give in. It is far better to pause and 
give him time to reflect upon his position, with 
the distinct understanding that at the end of the 
period another punishment will result unless he 
obeys. Passion, which has perhaps supported him, 
has time to evaporate, and in all probability when 
the time comes he shrinks from another castigation 
and breaks down. When this takes place we must 
be most scrupulous to show no elation at his defeat, 
and must never treat him with derision, or all the 
good of the victory will be lost ; rather we should 
show sympathy and the sorrow we feel at being 
compelled by his obduracy to chastise him so severely. 
A child's feelings rise instantly to resent any glorying 
over him as a fallen foe, and submission at once 
appears to him cowardly. He is defeated but not 
conquered. ' When children are made ashamed of 
submission,' says Lant Carpenter, ' they will become 
intrepid, probably unconquerable, rebels.' 

Any severe punishments should always be given 
in private. It is never well, as before mentioned, to 
familiarize children with the sight of pain. It has 



The Nature and Uses of Punishment, 355 

a hardening effect upon them, not only rendering 
their sympathies less keen, but by accustoming them 
to its effects upon others making them less sensitive 
to it themselves. A severe punishment will act just 
as much as a warning when they know it has been 
given as when they have seen it administered. It is 
a mistake to punish groups of offenders at once. The 
less disciplinary measures obtrude themselves upon 
the attention of children the better. No good teacher 
will walk about the school with the cane in his hand. 
The art of control is to so govern children that they 
do not feel it, and never stop to think about it. 

There is always danger of the too common em- 
ployment of the cane : it is such a ready means of 
settling difficulties, and seems to save so much time 
and trouble, that the temptation is often strong to 
use it where better means would serve. The * short 
and easy way' is often a most unsatisfactory one. 
It is the child's good and not our own ease we should 
have in mind. We must beware too of the excite- 
ment of punishing : a good teacher is ever on his 
guard lest he should be betrayed into undue haste 
or over severity. When flogging is necessary, the 
greatest care should be exercised that it may be 
given in a way which cannot lead to bodily injury. 
A child's head should under all circumstances be 
sacred from punishment; for no offence should a 
child's ears be boxed. Such a proceeding may lead 
to disastrous consequences of which we little dreamed. 
Directly after punishing a child, while he is still 
smarting from pain, is a bad time to talk to him 
about the heinousness of his faults. His attention 
is distracted, and he is very likely angry and out of 
sympathy with the teacher ; wait until he cools down, 



356 Discipline and Moral Training. 

and then a few words leading to forgiveness may be 
of the greatest value. 

To sum up the principal conclusions at which we 
have arrived, we may say that corporal punishment is 
a wasteful mode of punishment and in itself an evil ; 
it is needed for special cases, where other means have 
failed; it should be used for the repression of vice, 
and should be associated with good influences to give 
a tendency to virtue and neutralize any ill effects on the 
disposition ; the child must be in a proper state of mind, 
and must feel its justice if it is to have a beneficial 
effect ; it must be administered in a proper manner, 
and within certain limits; and lastly, the smallest 
amount must be used which will serve our purpose. 

* No corporal punishment ' should undoubtedly be 
a standard which every teacher should endeavor to 
work up to. The more we can do without such 
punishment the better, and its true abolition must 
come from teachers themselves : any external com- 
pulsion is only likely to lead to a mere change from 
the forbidden forms to others equally objectionable, if 
not worse. In the present state of things we must 
not delude ourselves with the idea that the majority 
of teachers will be able to do without its occasional 
employment at least. Where the attempt is made 
to do without the use of the cane its abandonment 
should never be announced to the pupils ; it should 
be there for appeal if a case of great seriousness 
should arise. The fact that it is in the background, 
and may be used, will often deter some masterful 
spirit who would brave anything else but a sound 
flogging. The compulsory abandonment of corporal 
punishment would in itself be a strong inducement 
to some children to break loose. 



The Nature and Uses of Punishment. 357 

The difficulties of control and proper disciplinary 
training are very great ; arising partly from defective 
skill on the part of the teachers, partly from disturb- 
ing home influences, and in some cases from the 
depravity of the children themselves. It is unfor- 
tunate that those teachers most likely to need the 
support of corporal punishment are just those who 
are least likely to use it discreetly. Among the 
greatest drawbacks to its abolition are, the difficulty 
of dealing with such masses of children as the master 
has in many cases to discipline, and the shortcomings 
of those associated with him in his work. A master 
may be able in a good school, where he can know all 
the children intimately, and thoroughly supervise the 
work, to do without the use of the cane except upon 
the rarest occasions ; and he should never rest content 
until he is able to accomplish this. But, where he 
has so large a number of children under his charge 
that it is impossible for him to know every child as 
he ought, and he has further to support the authority 
of inexperienced and possibly weak assistants, his 
difficulties are immensely increased ; and he may 
well feel how little those know of the real needs of 
school work, or of the nature of children, who so un- 
sparingly condemn the use of corporal punishment, as 
though it were solely necessitated by his ignorance 
and unskilfulness in control. Under an ideal state of 
things, no doubt much might be accomplished, but 
we have to deal with matters as they are. 

As the masses of our population become more alive to 
educational influences, and the home sympathies more with 
the teacher, the less need will there be to employ the lower 
forms of punishment. Flogging has been abolished in the 
schools of many of the continental nations ; and where the 



358 Discipline and Moral Training. 

children come from educated homes, as in Germany and 
Holland, things no doubt wear a different aspect. But even 
here gross moral offences must occasionally arise needing 
very serious treatment. One would like to know, not the 
theoretical remedy, but exactly what is done in a large 
number of such cases, to be able to test how far the means 
adopted have proved effective, and in what respects they are 
superior to the ordinary form of corporal punishment. To 
talk of moral suasion in a large school without any adequate 
means of correction is absurd. Some punishment there 
must be sufficiently severe to meet the case. The difficulty 
is — What ? He who would suggest a really practical remedy 
for grave faults — one which could be applied by all teachers, 
and which would be less expensive of energy, less likely to 
lead to evil results, and as effectual as corporal punishment 
— would deserve to take high rank as a public benefactor. 

If we are able to secure the good without the loss in- 
volved in corporal punishment, it is not only foolish to 
employ it, but wrong. And there can be no doubt but that 
there are many experienced teachers whose personal in- 
fluence, readiness of resource, and skilled judgment render 
them able to abandon its use except on very extraordinary 
occasions. To make these, however, the rule for their 
weaker or less fortunately situated brethren would be to 
seriously embarrass the latter and injure their work, if not 
wreck their entire control. A highly skilled physician may 
be able to accomplish a cure by means which, if employed 
in a coarser clumsier way by less accomplished and less 
experienced members of the profession, would fail com- 
pletely. 

No doubt the severity and cruelty with which 
corporal punishment was administered in the past, 
has had much to do with its condemnation ; and many 
of the arguments employed against it apply to its 
bygone use, and have no weight against its moderate 
and proper application in the present. At one time 



The Nature and Uses of Ptmishnient. 359 

it seems to have been looked upon not only as a 
means of moral correction, but as a necessary spur to 
learning; the benefit apparently being supposed to 
be in proportion to its severity. It was not only 
employed in schools, but for a long time even at the 
universities : Milton is said to have been one of the 
last who were flogged there. ' Humanity is shocked,' 
says Vicesimus Knox, writing towards the end of the 
last century, 'at the degree of severity which has 
been used in schools.' Nor was this state of things 
confined to England : so far as we can judge, it was 
as bad or even worse abroad. How common and 
severe corporal punishment was in some cases may 
be gathered from the following account, given by 
Jean Paul Richter, of the punishments of John Jacob 
Hauberle, a Suabian schoolmaster. 

1 Which of us can boast, like H&uberle, of having ad- 
ministered, during his schoolmastership of fifty-one years 
and seven months, 911,527 strokes of the cane and 124,000 
of the rod; also 20,989 blows with the ruler; not only 
10,235 boxes on the ear, but also 7,905 tugs at the same 
member; and a sum total of 1,115,800 blows with the 
knuckles on the head ? Who, besides Jacob Hauberle, has 
given 22,763 impositions, partly in the Bible, partly in the 
catechism, partly in the Psalm book, partly in the gram- 
mar, as with four syllogistic logical figures, or a sonate d- 
quatre mains ? And did he not threaten the rod to 1,707 
children who did not receive it, and make 777 kneel upon 
round hard peas, and 631 upon a sharp-edged piece of 
wood, to which are to be added a corps of 5,001 riders on 
the wooden horse ? ' 

Compared with such a condition of things as 
this, our advancement is as from a state of barbarism 
to civilization ; and who can doubt that, as education 



360 Discipline and Moral Training. 

advances and the conditions become easier, corporal 
punishments will be less and less employed, and that 
much which is not possible now may then be accom- 
plished. No one will hail with greater satisfaction the 
advent of such a time than the teacher ; and though 
now his difficulties are many and encouragement often 
scanty, yet the true glory of his labor is great, for, in 
rightly moulding the lives of the little ones under 
his care, he is not only advancing a great work in the 
present, but influencing the intelligence, nobility, and 
progress of generations yet to come. 



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